


Why So O-Negative?

by cactuarneedles, corellianrogue



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Everybody Lives, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, dinner to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-02 17:47:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 58,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactuarneedles/pseuds/cactuarneedles, https://archiveofourown.org/users/corellianrogue/pseuds/corellianrogue
Summary: Ignis is a vampire looking to hire a walking blood bank. Prompto is a human who wouldn't mind the easy income. Neither one is the slightest bit prepared for what comes next.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What's this?! A Big Bang fic?! Craziness! Thank you so much to [KazShipsThings](https://kazshipsthings.tumblr.com), the artist of our lovely fanart! Seriously, go check her out. Also thanks to [Edrela](https://edrela.tumblr.com), our amazing beta. This fic would be so much less shiny and polished without her. Finally, thanks to [Promnised Land](https://promnised-land.tumblr.com) for organizing this Big Bang!

 

 

From the outside, the establishment looked like any other business on this particular street, full of the sort of modest opulence that attracted people like Ignis Scientia: those with money to burn but no need to flaunt it in decadence. A highly exclusive club, it provided services for the most discerning supernatural denizens of Insomnia, staffed with only the most excellent -and discreet- attendants. Really, Ignis supposed, pausing in the lobby to adjust his shirt cuffs, it was a shame he would be letting his membership lapse. 

He nodded to the girl at reception as he passed. Discreet as regards their clients, certainly, but exceptionally helpful in other areas. The past few months had been difficult for those with alternative diets, and now it was likely to get worse. What had started as a seeming infection found only in vampires and their kin in the far reaches of the country, beyond what anyone would bother to call civilization, had begun to be found within the city itself. A helpful little bird had informed him that the city was implementing a registration system for anyone requesting blood for consumption. Purely for statistical purposes, of course, although there had been unsettling talk of a quarantine, he said, surely unfounded. Unfortunately, as closely as the club guarded their clientele’s personal information, this was not a regulation they could ignore. Of course, it wouldn’t go into effect for some weeks yet, and of course the establishment was not required to divulge past records, only current ones. Ignis had understood the unspoken suggestion and thanked the worker politely. He wouldn’t be back until this whole unpleasant business had blown over.

The thought that he, Ignis Scientia, one of Insomnia’s quickest rising stars, might actually succumb to the illness himself was too absurd to even contemplate. He simply wouldn’t allow it.

But that did leave him in rather a difficult position. Even among those he considered close acquaintances and business associates, very few had he found worthy of trusting with his personal details. While some were quite happy to divulge any and all aspects of their lives to anyone who might look twice, Ignis preferred to keep his proclivities, in all areas of his life, to himself. The current office betting pool was leaning heavily toward guessing him a dragon, in any case, and who was he to spoil their fun when it was so complimentary? 

Obviously he could hardly starve himself. As disinclined to overindulgence as he was, he was still far from an ascetic. Frozen blood was an option, if a frankly disgusting one, but it had few long-term health benefits. Acquiring it in the first place also had a number of potential drawbacks. That left one obvious solution: finding someone else, someone less constrained by government oversight. Surely, if the money were right, even that level of loyalty and discretion could be bought.

He snapped his fingers as the perfect idea occurred to him. A recipe for success, one might even say, with just a dash of subterfuge, a pinch of prevarication. What could possibly go wrong?


	2. Chapter 2

Prompto all but fell through his apartment door, shutting it behind himself and leaning against it with a defeated whine. “My life sucks.” Not that anyone was there to hear him. That would have been kind of strange, and getting burgled probably would have been the only way to make a shitty day even worse at this point.

The absolute only good thing about living in the tiniest efficiency known to man was that it was only about five steps from the door to his bed, shedding wallet and keys as he went, not caring where they ended up. His apartment was the size of a shoebox. How far could they go? Even his bed sounded depressed when he flopped down onto it, the frame shifting with a groan that made him hold his breath, waiting for it to settle. Once it seemed less likely to collapse, he buried his face in the covers. Maybe if he smothered himself, things would get better. On second thought, he rolled over onto his back. If he died now, his karma was probably like negative one thousand, and he just didn’t want to know how that would turn out.

Sometimes he wondered how different things would have been if he’d grown up in one of the human enclaves like Niflheim instead of Insomnia, city of a thousand races. It wasn’t that humans were deliberately discriminated against (except when they were) but if there was a human candidate for a job and a superhuman one, well, Prompto would go with the superhuman one, too. It left a lot of humans fighting for the lowest end jobs and Prompto had been bouncing from one to another since he graduated high school a few years ago. Add in the fact that he wasn’t just human but in fact was from Niflheim, trapped in its eternal stalemate with Insomnia, and basically everyone hated him for one reason or another.

He could count his friends on one hand with fingers to spare. That they both just happened to be socially and literally uber powerful surprised no one more than Prompto. 

Lunafreya nox Fleuret, the first person who’d ever said more than two words to him, socialite extraordinaire, and smartest person Prompto had ever met, and Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to probably untold riches, master of keeping absolutely everything on the down low, and total lame-o forever. But he loved them both because-

His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts to the jarring tones of his current favorite chocobo jingle. For a second he just lay on his back, indulging in what he now recognized was a good sulk, then sat back up with a groan. He let his mind go blank for another second before pulling  his phone out of his pocket. 

Noct. Of course it was Noct. And here he’d been hoping it was someone he could just ignore. 

He swiped to answer before he could let himself dwell long enough for Noct to hang up. Noct had a spare key, so it was phone or face to face. He’d take the phone. A quick deep breath and he plastered a smile on his face that Noct couldn’t see. “Hey, buddy! What’s up!”

A telling silence. Dammit. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong?” He laughed, only a little unhappily. Sometimes he wished Noct was maybe just a little less of a good friend. Not often, but just moments like these when he wanted to wallow alone. “I don’t-”

“You’re using your customer service voice. It sucks, by the way, but it means you’re upset about something but you want to pretend you’re not. C’mon, man, I know you better than that.”

Prompto flopped back on his bed. “Ugh, fine, you’re right. Today sucks. Tell Luna I need her to come make me feel better.”

Noct just snorted, but Prompto heard him calling Luna’s name, voice more muffled as he must have leaned away from the phone. In the background, a quiet female voice answered, and Prompto let himself drift, not quite listening to the tones of their conversation on the other end of the line. After a minute, Noct came back. “She says you can come over for dinner, and she’ll make your favorite.”

Luna was his favoritest favorite. “Daggerquill rice?”

A sigh was his only answer, but Prompto knew it just meant Noct was hiding his enthusiasm. So enthusiastic, that Noct. 

“With peppers?”

A far more disgusted sigh, that one. “Vetoed.”

“Ah, Noct, c’mon.”

“Fine. If you’ll tell me what actually happened today.” That sneaky bastard…

Prompto’s turn to groan in disgust. “I see how it is. You’re just lulling me into a false sense of security. The rice is a lie!”

“Prompto.”

That was Noct’s ‘I’m being serious, but only kind of serious, because you’re too ridiculous to be completely serious’ voice. Prompto knew that one super well. “It’s really not that interesting. It was just a bad day.”

“Which was why you almost ignored my phone call?” Seriously. How did he just know this stuff? 

“Well…” Prompto fidgeted with his phone charm. A chocobo, of course, which Noct, also of course, had given him back in high school. It was getting kind of beat up, or a lot beat up, but he didn’t want to get rid of it. It felt so… final. “Maybe something happened.”

A beat passed between them, in which Prompto envisioned spilling his heart over the phone, maybe crying a little, getting horribly embarrassed, and probably never talking to Noct again. It was very dramatic. Noct never had been very good at appreciating the dramatic arts. 

“Did you get fired again?” He didn’t even pretend to sound surprised. 

He squawked, nearly snapping the chocobo’s cord. “What?! No! I- I mean, it wasn’t… fired, exactly. They just-”   
  
“Fired you.”   


He huffed, flopping over onto his bed again. Somehow, Noct making it so anticlimactic like that helped even as it kinda didn’t help. “Fuck you, yes, fine, okay, I got fired. It totally wasn’t my fault, though.”

“Uhhuh.”

Okay, sliding toward ‘totally not helping.’’ Why was Noct his friend? “I hate you. It wasn’t.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the story this time?” On the other end of the line, Prompto thought he heard something like a smack, quickly followed by Noct’s voice, no longer speaking into the phone. “Ow! Hey! What was that for?”

He could just barely pick out Luna’s admonition to ‘be nice’ in the background.

“Yeah, be nice!” Prompto snickered, picturing Luna scolding Noct and feeling almost cheerful for the first time all afternoon. “And tell Luna I love her super best.”

Something passed on the other side of the phone that he couldn’t quite pick out. Noct must have covered the receiver, the traitor. That either meant they were kissing, which Prompto was fine not to have to listen to; or that Luna was teasing Noct into being nice, and if that’s what he was missing, he would be lodging a strongly worded protest. Noct was his best friend, sure, but Luna was Luna and he was only kidding a little when he said he loved her. Ifrit, he’d even had the biggest crush on her back in high school, but like everything else, Noct got to her first.

Not that he was bitter. He wasn’t. He was happy for them. He just… maybe sort of wished he could have something like that, too, just a little.

After a minute, his supposed best friend finally came back on the line, sounding a little breathless. Kissing, then. Fine, he wasn’t a traitor. “Anyway, spill. Story. Getting fired.”

Prompto groaned. “I said my manager hated me, right? Cause he did. Not that it wasn’t mutual, cause he was like such a dick. Anyway, he was totally sleeping with one of the other cashiers, and they didn’t lock the backroom when they were getting to it today, so I walked in on them, and EW, okay? Like I wanted to see that. But I did. Like, everything, if you know what I mean.”

“I can picture it. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He pretended not to hear Noct’s pointed groan, just like he’d pretended not to hear the sarcasm in that ‘thanks.’ He was good at pretending like that. “So I maybe screamed a little, and next thing I know, I’m in his office getting written up for ‘poor customer service’ so I maybe said something about him knowing about servicing, and, uh, that’s when he actually fired me.” 

For a few seconds there was silence, and then Noct (definitely a traitor, Prompto revised his previous take back) started laughing, the laugh he used when he was actually super amused by something, usually Prompto. He was usually a lot more happy to hear that laugh than he was right now.

He hung up the phone without waiting for him to stop.

Suddenly finding himself at loose ends, he stared up at his ceiling long enough that he might have actually dozed off for a minute or ten. At the least, the next time he looked at his phone, nearly an hour had passed. He considered, for a good five minutes, just going straight to bed despite it being all of seven in the evening, but the thought of rent and food and the fact that Noct would totally offer to pay for everything if he asked made him feel terrible for even considering giving up. And strangely, between the maybe-nap and talking to Noct (however the phone call actually ended) Prompto almost felt like himself again.

It still took another ten minutes of laying there before he could at least make himself grab his phone again and start up the mogslist app. He didn’t really expect to find much, but looking was better than sitting there and moping to himself. 

He scrolled past a listing for ChocoGo, even if it wasn’t his old store. He was pretty sure that was a definite non-starter. Secretary, nope. They’d take one look at him and that’d be it. The people of Insomnia could accept the most terrifying of supernatural beings, but apparently blond hair that didn’t come out of a bottle was the literal worst. Call center, double nope. He’d tried that, about three jobs ago, and nearly went out of his head being stuck in a chair getting yelled at for eight hours a day.

With a defeated sigh, he just stabbed his thumb at the phone, opening a listing at random. Talent had never gotten him anywhere, and he didn’t exactly have a lot of skills that were good for more than cashiering, so blind luck it was. He skimmed the ad, nearly closing it again, before reading it more closely. 

 

> Successful businessman with limited free time seeking assistance with basic household tasks. Schedule to be established upon hire. Candidate must be able to adhere to the agreed-upon schedule or communicate any deviations from said schedule in a prompt fashion. 
> 
> Duties include but are not limited to: light cleaning, basic filing, infrequent pickup and delivery of groceries or other required items (mileage reimbursement included), other items as assigned.
> 
> No previous experience necessary; will train the right applicant.
> 
> For more information or to apply, visit moo.gl/form/02078267.

 

He glanced at the listed pay range to make sure he hadn’t imagined it, but no, that was easily what he’d been making part time at any of his other recent jobs and then some. A third time through the ad didn’t reveal anything new, no secret codes or admissions of axe murdering. It did sound kind of like the set-up for a porn movie, but hey, at this point, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He was pretty sure you couldn’t get fired from porn, and you definitely wouldn’t get in trouble for walking in on your coworkers banging. He clicked the link to the form before he could think better of it.

It looked simple and straightforward, still nothing about secretly being a mass murderer looking for gullible victims. Name, age, race. (Were they supposed to be able to ask that on forms? He put ‘human’ anyway, because not like they couldn’t tell just looking at him.) Why he was applying for this job. What kind of question was that? Cause he was broke and needed one, duh. Did people apply for jobs for other reasons? 

Well, people that weren’t Luna and her inability to say no to a volunteer project in need. Luna broke all the rules, anyway, so she didn’t count it.

‘Successful businessman’ though. Would a ‘successful businessman’ want someone who was just broke and job hunting as an assistant? He very nearly called Noct to ask, but his jerky best friend was probably still laughing at his pain and suffering. Whatever. He deleted his answer, staring at the box for a minute before trying again, putting in some bullshit about ‘expanding his skillset’ and ‘trying something new.’ People liked to hear that stuff when they were hiring, right? 

Hobbies? “Okay, definitely not axe-murdery but way stronger maybe on the porno.” If the guy was going to be stuck with some random person hanging around his house, though, maybe he just wanted to have something to talk about? Prompto hesitated before going ahead and filling in ‘photography, jogging, video games.’ He immediately turned around and deleted the video games off, because that sounded lame. Who said video games were a hobby? Jobless people like him. Not impressive. Was just having two hobbies too few, though? He thought about it before adding ‘reading’ as the third. He read the dialogue in video games, so it was basically the same thing.

His Moogle account had already pre-filled most of the rest of the form with his address, phone number, and email. All he had to do was hit send. Just… hit send. He hesitated then pressed it quickly before he could overthink it any more than he already was, the little loading screen telling him his reply was being processed. Nothing for it now.

“Ugh, Prompto, you just signed yourself up to do a porn with an axe murderer. You’re an idiot.” Which, okay, he didn’t know know that, but low expectations couldn’t exactly end in disappointment. Right? Right. 

That was more than enough job searching for one night, so Prompto closed that app and opened up King’s Knight, instead. He’d just wipe the floor with Noct in the arena a few times until he felt better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompto is the world's most unreliable narrator. He gives himself emotional whiplash at least once per scene. I promise things will be okay! Do not be alarmed!


	3. Chapter 3

Despite not getting much out of it, Ignis liked cooking. He liked the way it blurred the line between art and science. He liked the sense of peace it gave him, letting his thoughts sort themselves out while his hands busied themselves with putting together something worthwhile.

He also liked that the promise of food was nearly always enough to get Gladio over to his apartment more or less whenever he wanted. He didn't take advantage of that fact often, but he kept it in mind for instances such as this one.

"The good news is that you ended up with eighty-three applications after five days." The chairs at Ignis' kitchen island weren't really built for someone of Gladio's bulk, so instead he'd made himself comfortable in the massive armchair Ignis would never quite admit he’d purchased with Gladio in mind. Ignis' hearing was plenty good enough for his voice to be heard over the sizzle of grilling anak steak. "The bad news is that eighty percent of those applications are from other demihumans, so really you've actually only got twelve people to pick from."

He frowned. Not the most promising results, those. "Perhaps I ought to give it another week."

"Moogle Analytics says you're getting more repeat views than unique ones at this point. You've faced worse odds than one out of twelve before."

True, he had. "Very well, then. What am I looking at?"

The first three candidates were rejected before Ignis had finished steaming the vegetables. One, a somewhat older woman with adult children, was looking for something to occupy her time while her husband worked. Ignis wasn’t willing to risk his own reputation and someone’s marriage in the event they were found out despite his precautions.

Candidates two and three had both selected human as their race, but mentioned coming from a line of demihumans in the free-text section. (“That is by definition not human,” Ignis muttered, annoyed, and Gladio gave him a lecture on letting people make their own decisions about how they chose to identify. Both went into the reject pile regardless.)

The topic got put on hold while they had dinner, Gladio with three-quarters of the meal on his plate and Ignis with the remainder plus a wineglass full of something with actual nutritional value, if far less appealing. He’d hoped the wineglass would somehow convince his brain that the taste of recently-thawed blood wasn’t really so bad - presentation made quite the difference when it came to one’s meal, after all - but he couldn’t quite stop himself from pulling a face with the first sip. Presentation could only do so much, it seemed.

A familiar-sounding sigh pulled him from his thoughts. Gladio (and Iris, increasingly frequently) tended to use it when one or both of them was determined to be more stubborn than him about something. “You could just ask.”

“I could.” He took another sip, schooling his face into neutrality even as his tongue practically recoiled in his mouth. “But I’m not going to.”

“Iggy–”

“No.” Ignis held up the hand not holding his wineglass. “I understand why you’re offering, and of course I appreciate that you would, but the answer is no.”

Another sigh. “Because?”

Not very many people would have gotten anything further out of Ignis, but Gladio had been his closest friend for years now, and would continue to be for as much time as Ignis would have with him. “Because you are my friend, not a convenient source of fresh blood.”

“Which is why the advertisement, sure. I get that. But you just cooked me a five-star meal and you’re sitting there making faces like you’re drinking motor oil and not blood. A guy can’t help but feel a little guilty.”

“Motor oil might be preferable,” Ignis admitted, setting the glass down on the table, “but it’s nothing I can’t deal with until I’ve found a suitable candidate. And you’ve nothing to feel guilty about. There are just some lines I’d rather not cross with someone I’m close to.”

Dubiousness, thy name is Gladio. “That you’re comfortable crossing with a complete stranger?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Many things are more palatable with a business transaction attached, less intimate. You wouldn’t ask a close friend to scrub your toilet or launder your underclothes, and yet there are entire industries full of strangers ready to do just that as long as you pay them. It’s much the same.”

“Iggy, did you just compare feeding from someone to scrubbing a toilet?”

He shrugged. Perhaps it wasn’t the most appealing comparison, but it held true nonetheless.

Gladio sighed yet again, and Ignis bit down the spiteful urge to ask if he needed a bicycle pump or perhaps some sort of tape. “I still don’t agree, okay? But I get it, you’re picky about this stuff. Just remember I offered. In case. All right?”

And that was why they’d managed such a long friendship despite Ignis’ less desirable qualities. His friend was truly something else. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, hey, did I tell you about Iris’ latest case?”

The conversation drifted to safer topics through the rest of dinner until Gladio swatted Ignis’ hands away from the plates when he stood to collect them. “I still don’t do toilets, but dishes, I can handle. Sit.”

If Gladio was going to be like that, Ignis would move to one of the other armchairs and open his laptop again. Nine more candidates and Ignis was starting to despair of his chances, just a bit. Not that he would admit as much. 

Another two candidates were dismissed based on age: an older man who, quite frankly, Ignis simply didn’t want to have die of a heart attack on his kitchen floor from the stress of being fed upon, and a younger woman barely out of high school. While there was no marriage to ruin there, Ignis could just imagine the society gossip that would inevitably follow.

With seven candidates left, Ignis took to the internet. An hour or so of incognito Moogle searches later, he’d managed to narrow down the search to two people without any indication of demihuman ancestry, compromising secrets, or questionable health. Ignis was nursing a second can of Ebony (the first having disappeared shortly after he’d finished his “dinner” in an attempt to cleanse the palate), clicking back and forth through tabs.

Gladio leaned over his shoulder. He’d left Ignis to his own devices some time ago, pulling a book out of his bag that Ignis was fairly certain he’d seen him reading at least three times previously. Now the lack of furious typing seemed to have snagged his attention. “Are you Visage-stalking them?”

Ignis pursed his lips, switching tabs away from the social media platform. He’d gathered enough from it already. “No. It’s hardly stalking if neither of them lock their profiles.”

He made a mental note to bring that up with whichever one of them he ended up hiring. It simply wasn’t smart in this day and age.

“Uh-huh. Lemme see.” He handed Gladio the laptop happily enough, watching him pull up the notes file Ignis had been compiling on his top candidates. Ignis could practically recite the information off by heart after studying it so closely, so he left Gladio to look over his thoughts while he finished the can of Ebony and took it back to the kitchen for recycling.

It was proving surprisingly difficult to find someone suitable for the position, but Ignis had faith that one of these two was sure to work out. 

The first, Sania Yeager, was a post-graduate student of biosciences, and according to her application, was looking to supplement her income while teaching and working toward her doctorate. That could easily work either for or against Ignis, depending on her level of discretion. Researchers, in his experience, were never happy discovering something unless they could tell the whole world about it, but perhaps something could be worked out. The multiple and exuberant mentions of frogs, pictures of frogs, and in one odd case on her Visage page, a five-minute video of a very confused looking frog, led him to believe it would be the former rather than the latter, but he was willing to take the chance at least as far as an interview.

The other…

Behind him, Gladio laughed. “I know which one I’ve got my money on. Man, Iggy, this kid’s your type.”

Ignis shut the lid of his recycling bin a bit more forcefully than necessary. He most certainly did not have a type, and even if he did, whether the second interview candidate, one Prompto Argentum, fit it or not had absolutely nothing to do with why he’d made the shortlist. “I don’t believe I asked for your input on anything but the applications.”

“Yeah, well, too bad, cause you’ve got it, anyway.” Gladio’s eyes skimmed something else on the page before whistling appreciatively. “He’s not half bad at this stuff.”

Ah. Gladio had found Argentum’s photo gallery on his Visage page, then. As hobbies went, it was certainly better than frogs, although it had its own set of dangers. If he was hired, Ignis would have to be very clear about no cameras being allowed in his apartment. The rest of his application had been largely mediocre, from the mile-long list of past jobs to the rather stale answers in the free-text sections. Perhaps that had been what made Ignis take a second look, honestly. Who better to safeguard his privacy than someone so average and unremarkable?

“Are you an expert on photography now?” He came back to join Gladio, leaning a hip against the back of the chair and watching Gladio scroll through the gallery. A few selfies here and there, interspersed with photos of landscapes and scenery, closeups of animals he imagined Argentum had met around town, some of those food photos that seemed so popular these days. Very few of other people, but Ignis assumed they must be under a locked filter. 

Gladio shrugged, shamelessly emailing himself a link to a photo that seemed to have been taken from the top of one of Insomnia’s walls, a large behemoth roaring in the distance. “You know what they say, I may not know art, but I know what I like. So when’re you calling them?”

That was as close to a seal of approval as he was likely to get at this stage. “Sometime tomorrow, I imagine. It’s a little late now for such things. Hopefully I can have this whole thing sorted out by the end of the week.”

“Yeah, hopefully.” Gladio closed the laptop carefully, setting it aside as he turned to Ignis. “So how about I kick your ass at some King’s Knight to take your mind off things for a while?”

“...Honestly.” And yet, he was still pulling out his phone. As childish as the game was, he simply couldn’t let a challenge like that go ignored. “As if you’d ever win against me.”


	4. Chapter 4

The cafe was nice, definitely more upscale than Prompto would have normally chosen, but not so far out of his reach that he felt like everyone was staring at him the moment he stepped inside. He checked his email one more time to make sure this was the right address, glanced at his reflection one more time to check that he was as presentable as he’d ever been in his life, and pulled open the door. The happy little door chime set his teeth on edge immediately, flashbacks of a horrible three weeks spent failing at making coffee at a Morrid’s Coffeehouse making him glare up at the bells above the door.

Not the time, he firmly reminded himself. So not the time. He stepped up to the counter, ordering the plainest (and cheapest) thing on the menu and a muffin in case he needed to kill something slowly mid-interview. As he waited, he glanced around. It was busy for a weekday afternoon, and he almost wondered how a ‘successful businessman’ could take enough time off to come interviewing people in the middle of his day, but Noct always seemed to have plenty of time to wander out of the office most days, too, even if he figured that was more a Noct thing than a businessman thing. 

Which, speaking of, the reply had been signed ‘Regards, Ignis Scientia,’ and there was exactly one person in here that looked stuffy enough to both sign something with ‘regards’ and be named Ignis Scientia. At least that part was going to be easy. He’d had visions of a million stiffs in suits and himself running from one to the next like a really awful game of Whack-a-Tonberry. 

The lady at the counter called his name (his real one, for once, instead of whatever video game protagonist he felt like that day) and the guy he’d suspected to be Mr. Scientia looked up, as well. Bingo. He took his order and thanked her before making his way to the guy’s table. Up close, he was still stuffy but attractive stuffy, like the hot chemistry teacher back in high school whose class Prompto hadn’t actually meant to fail but he’d been too busy thinking about the wrong kind of chemistry to actually pay attention in his class. 

About which time he realized he was comparing his potential new employer to his high school teacher crush and figured things could only go downhill from there.

The man, probably-Ignis, stood as Prompto neared the table, holding out a hand. “Mr. Argentum, I presume? Ignis Scientia.”

Prompto stared at the hand for a second like he’d never seen one before, tips of his ears going warm as he awkwardly juggled his drink and muffin before managing to set them both on the table without completely embarrassing himself (only mostly) and took the offered hand. At least he didn’t screw up the handshake. “That’s me!” He tried not to think about the fact that he was wearing a polo shirt and the dress pants that had once gone with his school uniform while facing down this guy in a full suit, jacket neatly folded over the back of his chair. “But just Prompto’s fine. Mr. Argentum sounds kinda weird.”

Ignis nodded, releasing his hand and gesturing for Prompto to take the other seat. “And you may call me Ignis.” Prompto doubted he’d ever been called just ‘Ignis’ in his life. “You’re early. That’s appreciated.”

His fingers twitched reflexively with the urge to take his phone out of his pocket and check the time. He’d meant to be squarely on time, but he’d been so nervous he hadn’t been able to just sit around at home so he’d gotten ready to go early. Once he’d gotten ready to go, he didn’t want to just sit back down in case he got distracted, so he’d left early. And since he’d left early, well, here he was. Early. “Oh. Well, I’ve never been here, before, so I wasn’t sure I’d find it right away, and better early than late, right?”

Somehow he managed not to wince at himself. Barely.

Ignis, on the other hand, barely reacted, gaze flicking briefly to Prompto’s hands before he pulled out a file folder, an honest-to-Astrals folder, and cracked it open. “Quite understandable, and indeed an admirable sentiment. Do see you continue that practice if you are hired. Now, then. A bit about myself and the job you’ve applied for. As I stated in my ad, I am very busy, and I’m looking for someone to do odd jobs as required. I could have gone through an agency, but I prefer to have more control over who has access to the personal details of my life. I’m sure you understand.”   
  
Understood that the look Ignis fixed on him then was terrifying. Prompto wondered if the way the light glinted off his glasses just then was somehow intentional. Either way, he nodded immediately.   
  
“Good. I don’t imagine it will be a very difficult job, and you will be supplied with all tools necessary to complete any requested tasks. As the job is rather simple and your application and resume were clear enough about your skills and experience, I just want to chat with you, see if our personalities could work well together.” He looked down, consulting something in the folder. Prompto realized with a jolt that it was probably his application. A folder of HIM. “I must confess, your hobbies were quite the interesting collection. I can’t say I would have considered fitness a hobby.” Something like a smile twitched at his lips, there and gone too quickly for Prompto to read much into it.

The muffin crumbled sadly under his fingers. He plucked out a blueberry and popped it in his mouth before he started squishing it and getting blueberry everywhere. “Yeah, I probably would have said the same thing a couple years ago. Used to super hate it, but it just kinda grows on you, you know? Next thing you know, it’s a habit, and now I can’t really start my day any other way.” He chuckled awkwardly, managing to maintain eye contact with an effort. “Some people need coffee, I need a good long run.”

Another flash of an expression. Prompto resigned himself to just praying Ignis’ blank expression wasn’t the bad sign he worried it was. After a moment, Ignis cleared his throat. “I suppose as habits go, it’s not a bad choice. Keeping your life on the right track.”  Prompto blinked, sure he’d misheard that, but Ignis was already continuing before he could ask. “I see you’re also a fan of photography. How did you come into that?”

What was even the right answer to these questions?! “I, uh… I don’t really remember, actually. My parents got me this little point and shoot thing, probably for a birthday or something, and I don’t really remember ever not having it with me. And I seriously took it everywhere, even to school.” He laughed at himself. “Still have it, too. I don’t use it anymore, not since I got a real camera, but it means a lot.” The heat in his ears got even worse as he stopped himself from spilling his whole life story in a job interview.

Ignis turned a page in the folder, making a note with a pen. Prompto hadn’t seen him produce it from anywhere, it was just suddenly there, taking notes on his life ramblings. “Why not make a career out of that?”

“Out of photography?” Prompto blinked in surprise. No one had actually bothered to ask him that before. “Oh man, I’d love to if I could! I’m not that great at it, though. You have to be super good to get anywhere with that stuff professionally, so I’m pretty happy just doing it for me right now.”

The considering sound was at least a response, which Prompto took as something of a good sign, but that was as far as he could get with it. “You mentioned something similar on your application, I believe, and I see your resume is also rather extensive. I take it you’re searching for something you are good at? Enough for a career?”

Six, someone this anal would actually read everything he wrote on that thing. “I mean. It’d be nice?” Wait. Wait, no, he was supposed to be impressive. “Not that I think I’m that bad at things! I’m good at lots of things. Super lots. Just, you know… being well-rounded is good, right?”

Finally, he got the barest twitch of the lips as Ignis smirked at him. “You’re right, of course. And how do you feel about your ability to perform the duties outlined in the ad?”

Ahha! A question he knew the answer to! “Oh! Oh, yeaaaaaaah, no worries. I do all that stuff for me, anyway, so I’ve just gotta learn to do it, like… fancier. Right?” He took a bite from the largest remaining piece of muffin, attempting to rally from his embarrassment and project nothing but confidence. More or less.

“To a degree, yes.” Another note in the folder. Prompto fought down the urge to sit up straighter and try to read what it said. “I admit to being rather particular about the way things are done.”

Talk about breaking news. Not. “Coulda guessed that. No offense or anything, you just look like that kinda guy.”

And hallelujah, another reaction. Even if that raised eyebrow wasn’t much easier to read than no reaction at all. “No offense taken. I look exactly as I mean to, and you aren’t wrong. Besides, I’ve been called much worse.” Prompto opened his mouth to apologize anyway, because it sounded like now would be a really good time to apologize anyway, but Ignis held up a hand to stop him. “But so long as you believe you can follow the demands of the contract, as well as meeting my exacting specifications, provided an offer is extended, then we should have no problems.”

“Nope! No! Not a single problem. I am all about the following directions. Super great at it. And everyone says I’m a quick learner!” That part was even true. Mostly. Like 85% true. At least.

Ignis gave him a properly encouraging nod, with maybe just a hint of a smile that Prompto pretended he wasn’t imagining. The folder was snapped closed and tucked away back into the briefcase it had come from, and Ignis folded his hands together on the table, making Prompto painfully aware of the crumb-covered state of his own. “Good. That is what I wanted to hear. Were I to offer you the job, what would be your earliest availability?”

He coughed on an errant blueberry, quickly taking a drink of his coffee to clear his throat. “Um.” And took another sip to stall for time as he weighed the merits of being available against the risks of looking pathetic and unhirable. “P-pretty much whenever? I guess. I took some… time off. For myself, you know. That whole expanding my horizons things. But no time like the present to get started, right?”

Apparently, they were past the ‘helpful expression’ portion of the program, because Ignis merely gathered his things and stood. “Indeed. I should be making my decision quite soon, so you’ll be hearing from me by the end of the week at the latest.”

That was it? Seriously? This was the shortest interview he’d ever had, and Prompto had interviewed for some amazingly sucky jobs where the biggest requirement was ‘has a pulse.’ The surprise made him hesitate, only scrambling to his feet a beat later as his brain caught up that Ignis was probably waiting for him. “Uh, great! Well, you have my number and everything. I… look forward to hearing from you?” He quickly stuck his hand out, realizing a second too late that it was covered in crumbs, yanking it back to brush it quickly against his pants, and holding it out again, sure his face was going to absolutely go up in literal flames any second now. “It was nice to meet you.”

If Ignis thought anything about his unintentional comedy routine, he didn’t show it, merely taking Prompto’s hand in another firm handshake and giving him a nod. “Likewise. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Y-yeah! You, too!” He waited until Ignis had turned and left, the bells jingling cheerfully at his departure, before flopping despondently back into his chair. His head dropped to the table, missing the muffin by scant inches. Six, how awful had he been? It was probably only so short because Ignis was scrambling to get away from him before Prompto embarrassed himself even more. 

He let himself sit there and stew in his self-pity for another minute, then sat up with a groan, feeling bits of muffin crumb flake off of his forehead. He stuffed the rest of the muffin, nearly half of it, into his mouth in one, vengeful, overlarge bite. The barista was probably staring by now, somebody was going to want this table eventually, and he was pretty sure if anyone asked him how he was right now, he might just actually tell them. Instead, he gathered up his things, brushing most of the crumbs onto the floor while hoping no one noticed that bit. The remains of the coffee joined the muffin wrapper in the trash before he carefully opened the door, checking both ways that the street was Ignis-free before exiting. 

That could not have gone worse. It absolutely could not have gone worse.


	5. Chapter 5

Well, that had gone swimmingly. 

Ignis let the door fall closed behind himself, adjusting his cuffs as he stepped up to the street to hail a cab. He’d been a bit disheartened after his earlier interview with Ms. Yeager. There was, unfortunately, such a thing as too inquisitive a mind. The idea of being turned into some sort of research project was much less appealing when it seemed a much more likely possibility.

But this Prompto Argentum, as lacking in anything approaching social graces as he seemed to be, might be just what he’d been looking for. He was obviously in need of a job, and judging by his hair and build, Ignis would guess some ancestry in Niflheim had closed more than a few doors already. Being from outside Insomnia himself, he knew well enough how closed-minded a large portion of the populace could be when it came to anything they regarded as ‘other.’ 

This time, it may just work in his favor.

Someone with few other prospects would be more willing to entertain the sort of unusual offer Ignis would be making. And yet, he hadn’t been the sort of overly deferential or sickeningly sweet that Ignis was used to dealing with from needy job seekers, so either Mr. Argentum really was just that rough around the edges or he was much better at hiding it than most desperate minimum wage workers Ignis had had the displeasure to interview. In either case, it was… strangely refreshing.

And it certainly didn’t hurt that in person, Mr. Argentum was, one might say, easy on the eyes. It was a minor consideration but hardly an insignificant one. A mental voice that had the annoying tendency to sound just like Gladio laughed at him, and fine, yes, he had a type, but so what? As with all food, a meal that was pleasing to look at was automatically superior to something bland and boring.

In celebration, he was giving himself the rest of the day off. He quickly texted his assistant as he climbed into the first available cab that he wouldn’t be back in the office today. It was a rare enough indulgence that he didn’t feel too guilty about it, nor did he flatter himself that the company couldn’t survive without him for one day.  

Immediately after, he texted Gladio.  _ Extremely pleased. This worked out better than expected. _

The cab was nearly back to his apartment before he got a reply. Gladio must have been in a meeting.  _ You went with the blond kid you wanna bang, didn’t you. _

He very nearly didn’t grace that with a reply, but Gladio would just take silence as success and that was unacceptable.  _ I will buy majority stock in that detestable cup noodle company you love just to put them out of business. _ He glared at his phone, trusting Gladio would just know he was doing it.  _ But if you are referring to Mr. Argentum, then yes, I have decided he is the preferable choice. _

Gladio’s reply was nearly immediate. It consisted entirely of a line of laughing emoji.

Ignis refused to respond. 

Thoughts of a suitable revenge occupied his mind for the rest of the ride and the walk up to his apartment. They’d see who was laughing when all of Gladio’s beer mysteriously went missing. Sometimes having an accomplice in Iris was the greatest blessing Ignis could have ever asked for, and she so rarely needed anything in return. 

Back in his apartment, he dropped his keys on the table by the door and went to warm a bag of blood, hopeful that it would be one of the last times he had to do so. His laptop stood open on his dining room table where he’d left it this morning, having done some last minute reading up on both candidates.

As he passed it now, he caught sight of the last thing he’d had up: Prompto Argentum’s photo gallery. Specifically a sunset landscape that Ignis suspected was somehow altered because he was sure he’d never seen one with quite so many colors in real life. And yet, he sold himself so short. Not that Ignis was any sort of expert, but someone in his position necessarily met professionals in many other walks of life, and some of these photos would fit in with any gallery he’d ever been in. 

He shook his head. Perhaps this arrangement would end up working out for the best for both of them. He would get what he needed, and Mr. Argentum would get the funding and time to pursue something that Ignis would have to be blind not to see where his talents lay. 

Perhaps Ignis could even coach him a bit, once they’d settled into a routine, help him build something approaching self-confidence. 

He would not, however, end up sleeping with him, his so-called “type” be damned. And Gladio too, for that matter, for even putting the idea in his head.


	6. Chapter 6

There had been two or three times in Prompto’s life where he had been more surprised by something than he had been by the voicemail from Ignis telling him he’d decided to offer him the position. Like finding out his lazy-ass best friend was a dragon. That was a shocker. But that voicemail had definitely been top five. At minimum.

The giant, gleaming high rise he was directed to meet Ignis at, on the other hand, was anti-surprising. Where else was a guy like that gonna live? His fingers itched for his camera, but he’d left it back in his apartment. Ignis’ directions had been super clear on that, so he’d just have to remember this place the old-fashioned way.

He got as far as the lobby, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t gawking at absolutely everything, before a stern voice stopped him. “Excuse me. Sir.”

The voice said ‘sir’ but the tone said something a lot less polite. Prompto didn’t quite freeze guiltily, because he knew he was supposed to be here, even if Mr. Angry Voice didn’t, but it was a reasonable facsimile of guilty freezing to the untrained eye. He turned slowly to find a desk he’d completely overlooked on the way in and a man at that desk in a fancy uniform. The bad facial hair choices made Prompto peg him as a were-something, probably, because seriously, did he see those sideburns in the mirror every day?

Mr. Angry Voice stood slowly, crossing excessively beefy arms. “If you’re making a delivery, you can leave it at the desk here.”

Well. Technically, he was sort of delivering himself, but he didn’t think that was the right answer. “Oh. Yeah, no, I-”

Behind him, the elevator dinged as it arrived on the ground floor, but about then, the guard came out from behind his desk and Prompto had much more immediate things to think about. “If there’s no delivery, I’ll have to ask you to leave.” The guard’s eyes gave him a once over, staying longest on his hair. Goddamn, Prompto hated being from Niflheim sometimes. “We don’t allow loitering or soliciting in this building.”

He drew himself up indignantly, but a polite yet pointed cough behind him stopped them both before a physical removal from the building could commence. “Mr. Belua. Is there a problem with my new assistant?”

Shit.

The only upside was that ‘Mr. Belua’ seemed just as surprised as Prompto was. “Your new assistant, Mr. Scientia?”

“I believe that is what I said, yes.” A hand fell heavily on Prompto’s shoulder, making him jump. A quick glance back proved it was, indeed, one Ignis Scientia, come to his unnervingly timely rescue. “If you’ll excuse us, he’s already late.”

Prompto began to squawk a protest, but he was shepherded into the elevator before he could get out more than a word or two and Ignis didn’t release his arm until the doors had closed behind him. “I am totally not late!”

Ignis just looked at him, not bothering to react. “You would have been had you dallied in the lobby any longer. It’s a good thing I came to look for you.”

Reminded of how that could have ended without intervention, Prompto just sighed, giving up on defending his honor, such as it was. “Yeah, that was a pretty good save. Thanks.”

A small nod was Ignis’ only answer. Neither of them said anything more as the elevator reached Ignis’ floor and Ignis led the way down to his door. Prompto looked this way and that, not sure if he was more impressed or put off by the ultra posh decor. There were plants every few feet, and when Prompto dared to poke one as they walked past, it was definitely real. There were mirrors on the ceiling, actual mirrors, like maybe for if you needed to check how you looked to passing pigeons on your way out for the day. Maybe rich people worried about that stuff. 

He was busy enough staring up that he nearly walked into Ignis when they finally stopped, Ignis unlocking one of the identical doors and stepping through, apparently just trusting Prompto to follow. 

Into… actually, into a surprisingly comfortable-looking apartment. If he ignored the fact that everything in here probably cost more than he’d made in his entire life so far. 

Was that end table inlaid in actual gold?

“Shut the door behind yourself and come along. We’ll sit at the dining table.” Ignis gestured for Prompto to do as he was told, leaving his keys in a bowl on said maybe-gold table and moving farther into the apartment. 

That, at least, was an obvious direction. The entryway opened into the rest of the apartment, with an absolutely monstrous couch marking what Prompto supposed would be a living room if it looked like anyone actually lived in it and the kitchen and dining areas on the opposite side. A hallway led off the living room, but unlike the main part of the apartment, it wasn’t well lit and Prompto couldn’t see more than a few closed doors. He crossed the room and settled carefully in a chair at the table Ignis indicated, easily twice as big as his bed. He hadn’t considered that working in the home of a rich guy would involve actually working in the home of a rich guy. 

“Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? Water?”

He jolted out of his thoughts, focusing on Ignis again. “Um. Water is good?”

Ignis nodded and stepped away into the kitchen. Prompto could see parts of it over the tall island in the way, and what he could see in there looked fancier than even Noct’s kitchen. Although Noct’s kitchen was only fancy because Luna refused to let him live off take-out every day, so maybe this was what a deliberately fancy kitchen looked like. After a moment, Ignis returned with a cold bottle of water that Prompto took with a nod and shaky smile, then Ignis joined him at the table. “Good. Now, before we begin, there is one minor formality.”

The briefcase had been on the table when he sat down, but Prompto had written it off as probably just the sort of thing rich businessmen had sitting around all the time. Ignis reached for it now, opening it casually and removing a small stack of papers, enough to give Prompto horrible high school exam flashbacks. It didn’t help when Ignis placed them in front of them, a pen centered neatly on top. “I’ll just need you to sign these. Feel free to read through them first, of course.”

Oh, of course. If he had three weeks, maybe. Still, he peered at them cautiously, taking in the small print and catching maybe one word out of ten. Things like ‘injured party’ and ‘restitution’ and ‘indemnification’ which was probably the biggest word he’d ever read and he was pretty sure he had no idea what it meant. “And these are…?”

“Just a few legal documents.” He said it as easily as someone might say ‘there’s cake in the breakroom’ but somehow Prompto still heard ‘you didn’t want that soul, anyway, did you?’ “Most immediately pressing being the standard NDA you’ll find on top, as well as a hold harmless agreement, and of course, the contract for employment which we’ll get to in a moment.”

“NDA?” He was starting to feel so far in over his head, but the more part of him wanted to turn tail and run, the more the rest of him dug in its heels. Except usually that ended in him losing increasingly badly to Noct at some video game, and now he was increasingly certain it was going to get him into an adult movie. He flipped through the papers to the first page of the contract, offered salary helpfully highlighted (in orange, not yellow, and yeah, Ignis just didn’t seem like a yellow kind of guy) near the top. It had just as many zeroes as Prompto remembered. 

It was more money than he’d ever made before in his life. That was worth a lot.

Literally.

Ignis leaned forward, tapping the top page deliberately. “Non-disclosure agreement. In layman’s terms, they ensure that should you tell anyone about anything discussed here today or within the confines of your employment going forward, I have the legal right to sue you for every gil you may be worth. A pure formality, of course.”

Wow, okay. Talk about escalating quickly. At this rate, the guy was gonna admit to being a lizard person or say he ate babies twice a day, all in that completely calm, possibly a serial killer voice. But what did it matter? Who would Prompto ever tell? Who would believe him over Ignis even if he did? He picked up the pen, doing his best to read the legal jargon until he gave up halfway and just signed his name on the line at the bottom.

After the NDA, Prompto gave up on reading what he was signing. The page Ignis had called a hold harmless agreement was short and he started to glance through it before realizing he didn’t really want to know anymore and just flipped to the back to sign. The employment contract he barely even glanced at, having already seen the part that mattered. As soon as the forms were signed, Ignis tugged them away, filing them back into the briefcase. “I’ll have a copy made for your records. Now. There is one additional detail which hasn’t been placed in writing, but will constitute a major part of your duties. It is also quite firmly protected by the NDA which you signed, I’ll have you recall.”

Prompto just shrugged, kind of over this whole intimidation thing. “Is it the eating babies thing? It’s eating babies, isn’t it.”

No, it wasn’t at all eating babies, as he could gather from Ignis’ utterly perplexed look. “...I beg your pardon?”

An ordinary person would cut their losses on this conversation but it was just too late to back out now. “Well, I mean, it’s gotta be something bad, right? You’re all sneaky, and I think I just signed like my entire life away, and hey, as long as you’re paying me, I’m not that upset, but either you’re secretly some kind of daemon or you, like, eat babies. Is that gonna be my job? Getting you babies? Fair warning, I would suck at that, like so much. I would be so obvious.”

Ignis had gone beyond perplexed and straight to pole-axed somewhere in that monologue until he finally broke in, obviously off-balance and interrupted in the middle of whatever dramatic declaration he’d been about to make. “I am a vampire.”

...He’d been joking about the babies. “Huh?”

Ignis removed his glasses with one hand, pinching the bridge of his nose with the other. “A vampire, Mr. Argentum-”

“Prompto.” His voice came out as the tiniest, overwhelmed squeak.

“...Prompto.” Ignis was looking at him like he imagined Ignis looked at business reports that didn’t add up. “As I was saying.” He cleared his throat, replacing his glasses and crossing his hands on the table in front of him. “You will not be procuring food for me, Prompto. You will be food.”

 

Oh.

 

For a good few minutes, the world went strangely fuzzy and grey, like a pet cat Prompto’s neighbors had had when he was growing up. Such a nice cat. Kind of like the nice couch he found himself lying on, except not fuzzy. Kind of smooth, actually. He petted it. It was nice.

“If you’re quite done feeling up my couch?”

It took a second for the voice to sink in, but once it had, he sat upright with a startled yelp. He likely would have launched himself directly off the couch if not for a careful arm bracing him before he could get that far. The arm, when he followed it, was attached to a shoulder, which was attached to Ignis. Oh.

Ignis, who looked almost… embarrassed? “I must apologize. You had me rather off balance and I’m afraid I went about that announcement in the worst way possible.”

No arguments from Prompto. “It’s, um. Okay? You’re really a vampire?”

Ignis sighed but still made sure Prompto was sitting steadily on his own before releasing him to put a careful distance between them. It was probably funny, but Prompto was still more scared of Ignis-the-businessman than the newly revealed Ignis-the-vampire. “How about I start at the beginning?”

Prompto shrugged. Sure? Okay? Was the beginning going to be any worse than starting anywhere else? 

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.” Ignis cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “You’re taking this better than I expected, I must say.”

Only because he was very carefully not thinking about it, but it was nice of Ignis to think so. Although if fainting was ‘better than expected’ maybe Prompto didn’t want to know what the alternative would have been. “Oh. You know. I think I watched a movie like this once.”

“...Of course.” On the plus side, Ignis looked like he’d never spent so much time confused in his life. Prompto took that as a minor victory. “Have you also happened to be watching the news at all lately?”

Haha… nope. “Sure?”

Ignis didn’t even take the glasses off to pinch the bridge of his nose this time. “Then you will surely know there’s been something of an epidemic among vampires of late. There are few enough of us that the disease itself has proven difficult to study, and while it originated in some of Lucis’ more distant holdings, recently rumors of affected individuals being spotted within the city itself have sparked talk of certain government restrictions on even healthy vampires. Quarantines, legal sanctions. More importantly, my reputation could be damaged by association. It’s happened before, and unfortunately public opinion tends to shift quite heavily with these sorts of incidents. I personally have kept my status secret for reasons of my own which are only more imperative now, but I needed a secure food source with little chance of intervention. Thus my advertisement and your subsequent employment.”

Now that Ignis mentioned it, Prompto had heard of the whole disease thing, but vampires were rare. Prompto didn’t think he’d ever met one. Well, until now. That would be a pretty stupid thing for anyone to lie about, even a possibly crazy rich guy. “So you’re… not…?”

“I am not infected, no. As far as has been determined, the disease manifests as an intense hunger and desire to feed beyond the bounds of sanity. You would be quite aware already were I no longer in control of my faculties.”

Breathe, Prompto. “Okay. Okay, so you’re… fangy. But you don’t want to get… more fangy?”

A moment of blank staring and Ignis sighed. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

“And you don’t want people to know you’re fangy but not excessively fangy, so…”

“So I hired you, yes. And I’ll remind you that you signed an agreement to speak of none of this with anyone else. Not even your family.”

Luckily his family probably wouldn’t care, but Prompto still nodded. “Right, right, or you can sue me for every gil I don’t have. I remember that part.”

To his surprise, Ignis actually looked a bit uncomfortable. “I apologize for the harshness of my word choice, but I needed to impress upon you the seriousness of what you were signing without being able to tell you the full extent until you had already agreed.”

On the one hand, that was the suckiest apology ever, but on the other, Prompto could sort of understand where he was coming from. He couldn’t imagine keeping this kind of a secret from everyone in his life for basically forever… except that was totally was he was going to have to do now, wasn’t it? He was doomed. “Naw, it’s okay. I mean, better than the baby thing, I guess.”

“Prompto.”

“Huh?” Ignis sounded almost… pained? What now? 

“Do not… ever… mention ‘the baby thing’ again. Do I make myself clear?”

Was he not supposed to laugh at that? He was totally laughing, although he managed to bring it down to awkward coughing after a few seconds or so, shrinking back into the couch under Ignis’ flat stare. “No babies. Gotcha. Mouth zipped on babies.”

That sigh was definitely pained. Prompto almost felt bad but not really at all. “Moving on to more pertinent concerns.” Ignis cleared his throat. “I will require your services roughly every three days, although the exact schedule can be negotiated. I would not recommend driving yourself on those days, and I will reimburse you for any public transportation-related expenses.”

Well, that was fine, seeing as Prompto didn’t have a car, anyway. “So it’s just me? One all-you-can-eat Prompto buffet?”

“Hardly all you can eat. Although that reminds me. Just a moment.” Ignis stood and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Prompto to fidget and stare around the apartment in what had to be one of the most awkward silences to ever silence. His first impression hadn’t much changed, although the longer he sat there, the more it felt like maybe the walls were slowly closing in and this was some elaborate and really weird trap. 

Ignis returned before the urge to run, screaming optional, became too strong, holding out a large thermos that was slightly warm to the touch when Prompto took it. And heavy. “What’s this?”

“A further requirement of the position, I’m afraid. A nutritional supplement, you might say. To promote blood growth.” 

The lid was a twist open style, one which Prompto closed almost as quickly as he’d opened it, coughing slightly as the stench invaded his lungs. Seriously, stench was the only word that described that smell. He thought he saw Ignis’ lips twitch at the edges but wrote it off as a trick of his eyes starting to water. “I’m supposed to DRINK that?!”

“You’re certainly not meant to wear it.” Ignis leaned back in his chair, gesturing toward the thermos. “I’m told it only takes a sip or two for efficacy, although each body responds to it differently, so you may need to experiment with it a bit. That supply should last some time, but you’re to tell me right away when it begins to run low so that I may order a fresh supply. The container has a mild charm on it to retain freshness; if the temperature changes, you’ll notify me of that as well.”

Did this guy even know how he sounded? Prompto could think of few things he wanted to do less than ‘experiment’ with anything that smelled like raw sewage, but starving to death from being poor would… probably… technically be worse. Probably. “Okay. Okay, so I just drink it? That’s it?”

Ignis did that thing where he pushed up his glasses to pinch at the bridge of his nose, and while Prompto would never say he was the world’s most observant person, he was pretty sure he was getting the meaning of that gesture already. “Again, I’m not sure what else you think I intend you to do with it, but yes, you’ll take a dose first thing in the morning on days we are scheduled to meet, and then again at bedtime on those days. Humans do not naturally produce enough blood to satisfy the needs of a vampire, so the magic in that potion should encourage your body to make up the difference. So it was advertised, at least.” 

Prompto twisted the lid open once again to take another, more cautious sniff, just to see, and closed it just as quickly as the first time. Nope, still awful. “I thought that sorta thing was illegal.”

There’d even been a big scandal about it a few years ago, some athlete taking a potion or something to do better athlete stuff. Honestly, Prompto hadn’t been paying the closest attention to the whole thing, but it had come up a time or two in his civics class. A lot of the laws were older, before humans were quite so integrated into society, meant to protect bodily autonomy and stuff like that. Prompto figured if they all smelled like this, the stuff deserved to be outlawed.

To his surprise, Ignis actually looked a bit uncomfortable at the question. “It’s perhaps better to call it something of a legal grey area.” Prompto just looked at him. “But yes. Technically, it is illegal to purchase and consume this type of enhancement without a medically necessary prescription. However, I believe this situation would be considered outside the spirit of the law, if not exactly the letter of it.”

“So it’s illegal.”

Ignis sighed. “Yes, Prompto, it is illegal. Many things are illegal. Donating blood directly like this is also likely to become illegal, however temporarily, in the next few weeks. If you no longer feel comfortable-”

Losing a job before he’d even actually started it would have been a new record, one Prompto really didn’t want to set. “No! It’s cool! We’re fine! Just, you know, clarifying. Cause clarity’s great. Yep. Crystal clear.”

“Wonderful. Is there anything else you’d like to clarify while we’re at it?”

Part of Prompto wanted to come up with some clever or thoughtful or useful or… well, anything except what inevitably came out of his mouth. “Well. You’re a vampire, right?” The look Ignis gave him hurried him on to the rest of his question. “I mean, yeah, of course you are, duh, but like, I thought vampires kinda… you know…” He gestured to the windows, sun streaming in through decorative curtains. “Poof?”

He immediately regretted it, but there it was, the question hanging between them until Ignis sighed. “I see I should have started before the beginning. Very well. If remedial vampire education will make you feel more comfortable. No, we do not ‘poof’ in the presence of sunlight. It is an uncomfortable annoyance at worst for most vampires. I use an exceptionally strong SPF moisturizer and have no issue. I am also fully visible in mirrors and photographs. I have no problem crossing running water. Religious paraphernalia irritates me only insofar as the annoyance caused by its owner. I most assuredly do not turn into a bat in my free time. Am I forgetting anything?”

Prompto squirmed a bit under Ignis’ frankly annoyed gaze. “...Garlic?”

Ignis sighed again, but unless Prompto was imagining it, his lips twitched into the tiniest of smiles this time. “I admit some small allergic reaction, although that would be a failure of my personal constitution, not anything inherent to vampires as a whole. Otherwise it’s fairly enjoyable in moderation.”

It really shouldn’t have been that surprising, even though it was. As many different races as coexisted more or less peacefully in Insomnia, there were still plenty of prejudices and misinformation, especially about the rarer types. He knew that well enough from hearing things about dragons that Noct soundly disproved. “So you’re just…”

“A normal creature, like you or anyone else in this city. My dietary restrictions are no less strange than a succubus or the occasional ghoul you might run into.”

“Wait, what do-”

Ignis made a show of checking his watch. “Ah. It seems to have gotten quite late. I believe…” He stood, crossing to a large bookcase taking up most of the far wall, studying it for a moment before pulling out a fair-sized, leather bound tome. “You seem the curious sort. Here. You can take this with you.”

He held the book out, obviously waiting for Prompto to take it. When Prompto didn’t move immediately, Ignis cleared his throat, jolting Prompto into action. “Oh. Right. Yeah, thanks, this is… a book. Thanks. Books. Great.” He juggled the book and the thermos awkwardly until he could hold them both without dropping either or looking like a complete idiot carrying them. “Is it a...special book?”

“It’s a slightly more academic book on various races than the sort of currently popular drivel you might have been exposed to.”

“Oh, like Nightfall! I… mean… like I don’t know what you mean.” He winced, edging toward the door. “But wow, you’re right, it is sure late. I’ll, uh…”

“I will call to talk about a schedule. We’ll plan on the day after tomorrow being our first… meeting, if you will.” Ignis ushered him toward the door, seemingly just as happy to end this increasingly awkward conversation as Prompto was. 

“Right. Great. Thanks, for, um, the opportunity? Or something. I’ll talk to you later?” A few awkward goodbyes to put the perfect cap on the perfect day and Prompto found himself back in the hallway, door closing quietly behind him, arms full of a thermos of totally-illegal-whatever-Ignis-said potion and a book that he really hoped wasn’t anything illegal but that he didn’t dare look at just in case. “Okay. Great talk. Go team.”

He stood for another second, questioning his life and choices and then started down the hall toward the elevator, step slowly getting more lively as he went. He wouldn’t tell anyone even if he could, because Noct would never stop telling him how stupid this all was, but above all he remembered the zeroes in that promised salary. 

He was going to rent so many chocobos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be real, if anyone deserves all the chocobos, it's Prompto.


	7. Chapter 7

“I’m telling you, I know the safe money’s on dragon, but I know a couple dragons, and he’s just not the type.”

Ignis paused as he stepped out of the elevator. Surely this wasn’t being revived yet again.

“Then what do you think he is?” another voice countered. “If you’re an expert?”

Ignis shook his head. This had been amusing for approximately the first year, but had long since lost its luster. Aside from the legal entanglements with the current epidemic, he mostly avoided telling anyone out of spite that this stupid betting pool would never be won.

His only consolation was that as far as he knew, vampire had yet to even be given odds.

He gave them as long as it took to put his things down in his office and then made his way to the break room for his first cup of coffee for the day. They were still there and seemed to be weighing the benefits of a bet on naga versus kitsune. Honestly. He stopped in the doorway, aware from long experience that it gave him the most intimidating lighting. “You are welcome to check for a tail, if you like, but I would imagine there must be some more profitable use of your time at work?”

Someday he would get tired of doing that, he truly would, but it seemed unlikely to be any time soon. 

The three in the room jumped, spewing apologies that he pointedly ignored as he focused his attention on the only worthy recipient in the room: the coffee machine. The chatter faded into awkward silence once it became clear he wasn’t going to engage them any further, and Ignis smirked faintly as he left the room with his coffee.

When he’d first taken a position at Lucian Technologies, he’d found the incessant questions about his lineage odd and somewhat invasive, but he’d shrugged it off as the usual Insomnian xenophobia at work. He’d refused to answer, of course, because his personal life was just that, and then he’d learned that this office was staffed with adult-sized children who wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Eventually, they’d settled into a professional sort of truce, where Ignis left them to their idle speculation as long as they kept it out of his face, and they were all just respectful and/or intimidated enough to largely leave him be. Perhaps he’d found a few games of his own to play in return, but that was only to be expected.

Unfortunately, there were always exceptions.

Not that this particular annoyance was here to bother him about an office betting pool. Elves were damnably sneaky creatures, but by and large they held themselves above such petty things. He turned in his chair at the deliberately heavy step just inside his office doorway, refusing to show the slightest hint of surprise. At his door, one Ravus Nox Fleuret, CIO and chief pain in Ignis’ ass, looked somewhere between disappointed and constipated, which Ignis privately thought may very well be his natural state of being. 

He carefully and deliberately looked past Ravus to nod to the blonder and more agreeable girl behind him. “Lunafreya.” He waited until her lips twitched in understanding and she nodded her greeting in return before looking to her brother. “Ravus. What brings you to brighten my doorstep today?”

Ravus didn’t respond in words, instead stomping his way to Ignis’ desk to drop what Ignis guessed was most likely a rejected budget proposal atop his desk calendar. Ah, yes, the header bore Ignis’ electronic signature and the comments he’d left when rejecting the proposal. He raised an eyebrow at it, then at the man who had dropped it there. “Is there a reason you felt the need to waste resources by printing this out?”

“You agreed in the last board meeting that we’re overdue for a device overhaul.” Ravus made an aggrieved gesture at the papers, as if Ignis needed a reminder about a meeting that had taken place not three days before. “Are you expecting me to pull those devices from thin air?”

Ugh. Ignis had neither the patience nor the desire to deal with this tantrum. He hadn’t even made it through half of his coffee yet. “My concern with your proposal, as I noted in the comments, is not with the purchase of new devices in general, but specifically with the particular brand and build you suggested. I’m uncertain if you had a chance to review the alternatives I listed?” 

Ravus pulled a face as if Ignis’ words has physically pained him. “The models I suggested–”

“Have the exact same specifications as my alternatives, with double the price tag and an aluminum casing.” Ignis tapped the report, a not-so-subtle reminder that he’d stated exactly as much already and Ravus was wasting valuable time. “So unless you’d like to be the one to explain to the employees that their new devices are the reason none of them received their yearly bonuses…?” 

That seemed to do the trick. Ignis didn’t have the best reputation among the employee pool, but Ravus’ wasn’t much better and they both knew it. He caught the faintest mutter about dragons and their hordes as Ravus left his office. Was he supposed to be offended? That particular barb had grown old ages ago.

To some extent, he could understand it. The nox Fleuret family had started this company generations ago and Ravus likely would have been CEO by now instead of just another officer of the company had things continued that way. One hostile takeover and full restructuring later, and he’d instead found himself climbing the ranks like any normal employee. Ignis had only met him years after the fact, but he could imagine how it had felt. They’d only met, of course, because Ignis himself had been hired for the CFO position that Ravus had apparently coveted for some time, after which things had gone quickly from bad to worse.

So yes, it made him dislike Ravus no less for that understanding, but he did, somewhat, understand.

Or perhaps he was wrong, and Ravus, like so many others, was just incapable of accepting that ‘no’ was a complete sentence. 

Luckily for Ignis, the sour temperament certainly didn’t run in the bloodline. Lunafreya lingered behind her brother as she often did. She technically had no position at the company, but it wasn’t uncommon to see her here or there about the offices, offering her perspective that more often than not proved to be a useful one. 

And sometimes, she was an absolutely horrid gossip.

She glanced to the door to make sure her brother was gone, playing nonchalantly with one of the few knick knacks he allowed to clutter his shelves. A gift from her, as it happened. A small yet intricately carved jade dragon. She’d said it was for luck, when she gifted it to him, and the dragon rumors had started soon after.

While he couldn’t prove she had started them, any more than he could prove that she had figured out his secret herself, he could make an educated guess.

She petted the little dragon’s nose as if it were real. “A little bird told me you nearly made half the IT division on this floor wet themselves this morning.”

So this was their game today. “Hardly half the division. If half the IT division on this floor were so unobservant, I’d make sure they were all fired.”

Her laugh was bright and cheerful, exactly the sort of thing that rarely graced his office. “You know how rumors grow in the telling.”

He couldn’t help chuckling in reply. “What are the current odds these days?”

“Well.” She turned away from the dragon, counting on her fingers. “Dragon is still first in the running, although the argument against it these days is that you never seem to hoard anything. Except money, of course, but no one is quite sure if digital hoards in foreign banks count or not. Selkie has been popular lately. I think there was a bet on harpy recently, but I’m not sure if that one was put in more as a joke or commentary.”   
  
He shrugged. Not the first time.

“Otherwise it’s more of the same. Are you ever planning on settling the bet?”

He grinned at her. “My dear Lunafreya. And ruin their fun? What kind of monster would that make me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never bet against Luna, kids. Not in any universe.


	8. Chapter 8

When it came right down to it, the underlying terror he’d expected on that first feeding day (and didn’t that feel like he was talking about some kinda nature documentary) was almost entirely overshadowed by the absolute awfulness of that rancid blood potion. He was scared, sure, but at least a good half of it was fear of having to drink it again tonight. 

The distraction carried him through right up to knocking on Ignis’ door. The doorman had only eyed him suspiciously this time as he’d scooted past into the elevator, obviously more concerned with not irritating Ignis than he was with keeping riffraff out of the building. Prompto could understand the feeling.

As Ignis opened the door, Prompto couldn’t help glancing up at his mouth, expecting… well, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but something more than the put-upon frown he saw. Ignis seemed to read his intent, rolling his eyes as he stepped back to allow Prompto to enter. “Good afternoon to you, as well, Prompto. Are you going to come in or continue imitating a dying fish in the hallway?”

His face went hot. He was totally not being a dying fish! He sidled in, keeping an arm’s length between them. “I was not!”

“I’ve met gorgons that stared less.” Ignis shut the door, gesturing Prompto toward the living room area. “I am hardly going to jump you in the hallway. Wouldn’t that rather defeat the purpose of this clandestine little arrangement?”

Okay, good point. He headed toward the living room as directed, glancing around, but everything looked just like it did a few days ago. No unexpected, nervous furniture rearranging, then. “So. Just checking, cause, I mean, it didn’t really come up last time, but this isn’t gonna make me… fangy, right?”

He hadn’t realized it was actually possible to feel someone staring at you, but he definitely felt something, and when he glanced back, there was Ignis. Staring. Kind of incredulously. Prompto fidgeted, dropping down to sit on the couch quickly enough that he bounced. Then he did it again because it had been kind of fun and he was nervous and things just happened sometimes when he was nervous. The next look Ignis sent him put an end to that, though.

“Stop that. And no, it won’t make you ‘fangy.’ That would also defeat the entire purpose.”

True. Ignis did seem to need him non-fangy to… eat… him. He frowned. “Why can’t vampires eat other nonhumans, anyway?”

He hadn’t meant for it to come out sounding quite as petulant as it did, but Ignis didn’t seemed bothered so much as thoughtful. “While I wouldn’t have expected you to care, that’s actually not a bad question. There’s no single answer. There are obviously certain races without the proper nutrients contained in their blood in the first place, making them either entirely unpalatable or even outright toxic. Others may have magic that makes the act of feeding uncomfortable, although I have heard there is a certain spiciness to some of the elven races with light magic that makes their blood rather distinctive.”

Distinctive blood. Suddenly, all Prompto could think about was whether that meant Luna tasted like sunlight or some kind of hot pepper or… He scrubbed at his face. “Okay, new topic! Sorry I asked. Um. Right. I’m good to go when you are.”

Ignis was looking at him like he wasn’t sure Prompto was still in control of his full faculties, and honestly Prompto couldn’t even blame him right now. Ignis disappeared into the kitchen briefly, only to return with a glass bottle of juice. “I hope you like juice. This happens to be apple, but I also have orange and grape on hand.”

“Apple is fine.” He remembered just enough of the required blood drives in school that this part seemed familiar, even if he was used to the cheap cardboard juice boxes, not fancy glass ones that proclaimed things like ‘100% juice!’ and ‘all organic, no additives!’ He opened it carefully and took a sip, just in case ‘100% juice, all organic’ apple was somehow fundamentally different from normal, poor people apple. Then he smacked his lips, trying to decide if he liked it or not. He just really didn’t drink a whole lot of juice. “It’s, um. Appley.”

“As one would hope apple juice would be.” Ignis joined him on the couch, picking up a tablet off the other end of the coffee table and doing some sort of work on it while Prompto sipped at the juice. “I trust you took your potion this morning, as directed?”

“Just one sip.” And then nearly threw it back up, so he’d decided to stick with just the one. “Not sure what I’ll do if I end up needing more than that. It’s kinda potent.”

“For the money I paid for it, I would hope potent is the least it could be described. In any case, we shall see how you feel going forward and adjust accordingly.” Ignis continued tapping away at the tablet, shooting Prompto a disapproving look when the urge to try to peek grew too great. Prompto immediately shrunk back. “As I said, you’ll need to finish that entire glass.”

“Right. Yeah.” He mumbled against the rim of the glass, deliberately petulant this time. He managed to get most of the way through the glass just sitting and drinking it obediently (okay, mostly obediently) but eventually curiosity won the better of him again as he looked everywhere but at Ignis’ tablet. “So, like, no offense, but this is a pretty boring apartment for a rich guy.”

Ignis paused in his tapping, and Prompto could feel his eyes on him again. “Isn’t it interesting, how often when one says ‘no offense,’ the next words out of one’s mouth are so likely to be offensive?” His tone was flat, like when they’d been going over the legal paperwork the other day, but Prompto was starting to get the feeling that that was actually not a great sign. “Pray enlighten me as to why my home is so boring.”

“O-oh, well…” He busied himself draining the rest of the glass. Not that he’d been in that many rich people homes, and two of them did belong to dragons which probably made them a class all their own, but they all reminded him a lot of the people who owned them, honestly. This… Well, the color scheme was all monochrome blacks and greys from the throw-rugs on the dark wood floors to the furniture to the black and white art on the walls. It was like something out of a photoshoot, nothing that looked lived in. He didn’t really know what that said about Ignis except… well, boring. 

But maybe not saying that was the better idea right now.

Ignis made a sound like annoyed laughter, finally putting his tablet back down. “Coeurl got your tongue? Very well. Since you’ve finished your juice, we may as well move this along.” 

He disappeared down the hallway again, returning a moment later with a small first aid kit. Prompto promptly embarrassed himself by choking on his tongue. “What’s that for?”

“You will be bleeding, you realize.” Ignis’ voice had lost the flat tone and now quite clearly said he thought Prompto was being deliberately dense. “It isn’t a spigot to turn on and off only when I need it.”

Prompto’s cheeks went hot. Sure, he knew that. “I figured you’d magic it up or something.”

“A waste of resources. The potion itself will deal with most of the physical ramifications of being fed from, so as long as we choose an inconspicuous area, there’s no need to do more than bandage it until it stops bleeding.” Prompto must have looked as panicked over the idea of ‘inconspicuous areas’ as he felt because Ignis shook his head. “I was thinking your wrist.” He gestured at said wrist and the collection of colorful bracelets Prompto had decided to wear today. “You seem to enjoy jewelry.”

“I… yeah?” Was that bad? It was probably bad. 

“Then you’ll be able to keep any marks on your wrist easily covered as long as necessary. Problem solved.” Ignis held out a hand. “Now, if you’re quite ready?”

He really, really wasn’t. It took him a few seconds to even recognize what Ignis was asking him for, and then he froze up, heart thudding loudly in his ears. He’d known, of course, what he was here for this whole time, but he’d managed to distract himself. Until now. This was it. It was totally time, the point of no return, now or never, go time, it was-

“Prompto?”

“S-sorry.” Right. He fumbled with his bracelets, not quite sure what to do with them and eventually just setting them on the coffee table next to his empty glass. Then he held his hand, his wrist technically, out for Ignis to take. 

Somehow, he’d expected Ignis to be cold, that whole undead thing, but Ignis’ hand was surprisingly warm when it grasped his. And then Ignis’ thumb brushed over his knuckles and Prompto’s heart about leapt its way out of his chest. “I know this is probably stressful, but you’ll need to do your best to breathe deeply. Or perhaps at all.”

There was something like humor edging his tone, enough to get Prompto to look at him instead of his shoulder, but Ignis was just watching him carefully. Breathing. Okay. He could do that. 

Prompto’s first attempt was more of a gasp, sabotaged by the mistake of meeting Ignis’ eyes. He shifted his attention to the wall just behind Ignis’ head instead and managed a proper inhale, and then two, three, increasingly aware of Ignis’ murmured encouragement. While it made his blush nearly unbearable, it did help him fight his breathing into something like a regular rhythm, only the occasional nervous hiccup to get in the way.

“Good.” Ignis’ voice was still quiet, almost hypnotic now that he was paying more attention to it. “Now, I’ve been told this does sting a bit, but as long as you relax and don’t tense up, it should go quite smoothly.”

Did the people who gave advice like ‘don’t tense up’ realize that it was the sort of advice that made a person immediately tense up? 

He was busy enough worrying about being bitten that he nearly missed Ignis actually biting him. At first, it was a sharp pinch, not quite enough to be painful, and then a strange tingling spread along the nerves of his arm as far as his elbow, making his fingers twitch against Ignis’ hand. And then he made the mistake of letting his attention shift from the wall back to Ignis, bent over his wrist, a droplet of blood just escaping to trail along inside of his arm.

Prompto bit his lip against any sort of noise escaping, not sure exactly what kind of noise it might be.

What felt like somewhere between a heartbeat and an eternity later, Ignis pulled back, unconsciously licking his lips as blood welled sluggishly in the twin wounds. A moment later, he seemed to come back to himself, clearing his throat awkwardly and reaching quickly for a pad of gauze he’d laid out from the first aid kit. “My apologies. I forgot myself for a moment there.”

He indicated for Prompto to keep pressure on the gauze as he readied a bandage. Between the two of them, they dressed the wounds quickly, Ignis fetching a damp cloth to clean up the few escaped droplets and cleaning his own face in the process. That done, for a moment, they sat, the silence slowly turning awkward. Prompto snatched at the first thought he could find to fill it. “My bracelets aren’t gonna cover this very well.”

Ignis cleared his throat. “I’ll see what I can do for the future, but for now we’ll have to work with what we have. How do you feel?”

How did he feel? As strange as it sounded, he’d been kind of too busy to think about it. “Um. Kinda weird? Like. Woozy? Like not drunk woozy, but like maybe I shouldn’t try break dancing today woozy.”

He was rewarded with Ignis’ lips twitching unexpectedly into a grin before he schooled his expression again. It was 100% the wooziness that made his heart skip again just from that. “No break dancing does sound wise, but I believe I can help with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can head back to chapter 1 to stare at the art for a bit now. Go on. We'll wait.


	9. Chapter 9

Prompto had handled that significantly better than Ignis had expected him to, but that didn’t stop him from leaving the human with a strict order to sit and let any lingering dizziness pass before he tried to move around too much. In the meantime, Ignis had a recovery meal to put together. The potion might help Prompto produce enough blood that Ignis could feed from him regularly, but they’d be caught in no time at all if Prompto came out of those feedings looking any the worse for wear, and Ignis could do far better than the bloodbank standard of a cookie and some apple juice for someone who’d had a hand in keeping him fed and out of quarantine.

Besides, it meant he had a captive audience to try the quiche he’d made after tweaking his pastry dough recipe. One simply didn’t let such an opportunity pass them by.

He’d just pulled the tart pan from the oven and set it on a trivet to cool when he heard shuffling from the living room, but other than a deep breath Prompto didn’t seem to have any problem getting to the kitchen and having a seat at the island instead. “That smells...really good.”

“I’m glad you think so, as you’ll be the one partaking.” Ignis didn’t respond to the confused noise he got in return, instead opening the refrigerator to retrieve a new bottle of juice and setting it in front of Prompto. “More juice. You’ll need to drink the entire bottle, please.”

“Um.”

Ignis ignored the attempted interjection, such as it was. Questions could wait. “You’ll also need to finish this.” He dished out a larger portion than he would have under normal circumstances, but he’d calculated how much Prompto would need in order to make up for the iron loss. “It’s spinach and artichoke with cream cheese, in case you’re wondering. Hopefully it’s to your liking.”

The wrinkle between Prompto’s brows grew deeper. “That’s–I mean, definitely, if it tastes as good as it smells I probably haven’t ever had anything that good before, but why’re you feeding me, exactly?”

Come now, wasn’t that obvious? “Having your blood drawn will have left you low in iron. The juice and the quiche will help with that.”

“Well, yeah, but...I’d’ve been fine with a cookie or–”

Ignis held up a hand and Prompto stuttered his way into silence. “This is no blood bank trying to serve hundreds. You’re doing me a service. One you’re being paid for, certainly, but a service nonetheless. I’m not going to honor that by letting you leave here feeling less than well, and most certainly not by just handing over a cookie.” Judging by Prompto’s increasingly surprised expression, he sounded as offended by the very idea as he was. Still, he stopped himself with a deep breath and started again more evenly. “Not making sure you’re in good health would be foolish and counterproductive. Now eat your quiche before it goes cold.”

For a moment Prompto just continued to stare at him, but a quirk of Ignis’ eyebrow was enough to get him to pick up his knife and fork to do as he’d been told. The noise he made at the first bite positively improper. Did he do nothing quietly?

“Oh em gee.” At the very least Prompto had the decency to chew and swallow before opening his mouth. “This is literally the best. Not like figuratively literally, either. Literally literally. I think you’ve ruined me for normal food forever.” 

That made him snort, but Ignis still found himself cracking the tiniest of smiles at how...unfiltered Prompto was. It wasn’t a trait among most people he knew. “You’re too kind. It’s a hobby at best, but a useful one.”

Prompto was the picture of incredulity. “A hobby? The ambrosia of the spinach gods is just a hobby?”

He rolled his eyes, a useful habit for covering up the rare occasion when someone actually managed to catch him off guard. “It’s nothing special.”

“Uhhuh.” Prompto still sounded uncertain, but with any luck, he seemed on the way to dropping the line of conversation. Ignis enjoyed compliments as much as the next man, perhaps more, but he preferred them to be slightly less over the top. “If you say so.”

“I most certainly do. Now, eat.” He fetched a much smaller portion for himself in the hopes that Prompto would be more likely to follow suit if Ignis weren’t just standing there.

The dough, as expected, was vastly improved.

It wasn’t quite the easy, companionable dinner he might have had with someone he considered more of a friend than an employee, but between Prompto’s occasional, rambling compliments and Ignis’ own observations on cooking, they managed to make it through the largest part of dinner. It was almost, Ignis might dare to think, nice.

It only became awkward when he noticed Prompto staring again. At his mouth specifically. He dabbed it with a napkin in case something may have become stuck somewhere unsightly. “Yes?”

Prompto jumped like he’d been caught in the middle of something far more scandalous. “Oh! Uh. Nothing, really, I just. Was kinda thinking. You know.”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t, as mind-reading is not among my innumerable skills.”

Prompto muttered something under his breath, Ignis being fairly sure he picked up the words ‘could have fooled me,’ before gesturing vaguely in the direction of Ignis’ face. “Just… you know, you look normal.”

Had such words ever been uttered so accusingly before? “As opposed to?”

“I don’t mean like that.” Prompto picked at the last bites of his food, all of them seeming to need a tour of his plate before he could deign to eat them. “But like... “ He took deep breath and Ignis could almost see him psyching himself up. Something good then, surely. “Okay, so obviously you had the big pointy fangs when you- you know.” He waved his wrist in apparent illustration. “But… well, you ain’t rocking the big teeth right now, Grandma.”

It took him a distressingly long moment to make heads or tails of that, but once he did, he groaned. “I take it you’re confused by the fact that my fangs are retractable.”

“Um. Sure?”

He slid his glasses off, the better to pinch his nose against a headache. Those seemed to threaten quite often around Prompto. Funny how that worked. “Explaining the science of it would take longer than I wish to spend, but suffice to say that vampire fangs are very highly evolved instruments that are perfectly formed for their purpose. They are not, however, perfectly formed for other things, such as clear speech, so they retract when not in use, although extreme hunger and certain very strong emotions can cause them to extend without conscious choice. Retracting also helps them avoid damage. While a vampire can regrow its fangs if they are lost, it takes time and unnecessary energy. Does that answer your… question?”

For a moment, Prompto just sat there, a look of confused concentration on his face. “So…” His fingers tapped restlessly on the table. “That’s gotta feel weird.”

“I’m quite used to it.” They were many things, certainly, but ‘feeling weird’ was well below the bottom of the list. Inconvenient, perhaps. They were a vampire’s one obvious tell, when they were out. Unlike, for example, a kitsune’s tails, vampires had no other especially noticeable traits to distinguish them from any number of creatures - another likely reason as to why vampire had never been a suggestion in the office betting pool.  “Unless we would like to have a contest of which feels weirder, having fangs or being human.”

“What? Being human doesn’t-” Ignis could see the moment the light went on. “Oh. Right, gotcha. That was like super uncool, huh?”

“Perhaps mildly uncool. Now finish your quiche.”


	10. Chapter 10

Unsurprisingly, considering his mastery of basically everything else as far as Prompto could see, Ignis had super great taste in accessories. Prompto had managed to forget the problem of hiding the bandage around his wrist as soon as he’d left Ignis’ apartment, but there, waiting for him at their second… appointment or session or whatever he didn’t want to call it, was a set of variously embellished wrist cuffs that Ignis had picked out. To give him a variety to choose from, he’d said. Prompto didn’t wanted to even consider how much they must have cost, but he was doing this for the money, right? That was like getting a Cosmogony Day bonus or something. From his boss. Who apparently just liked feeding people and giving people stuff and making Prompto think about his boss and food and stuff and…

It wasn’t anything weird. 

Today, he happened to be wearing the fanciest of the set, a deep black embellished with silver scrollwork that he’d been too intimidated to ask if it were actually silver and not just colored silver. The leather of it was soft and made him think of Ignis’ fancy couch. He knew, intellectually, that playing with the fancy leather cuff as much as he was would kind of make it the opposite of inconspicuous. Conspicuous? That was a word, right? Spending a couple hours with Ignis every few days this week was doing amazing things for his vocabulary. But whatever it was or wasn’t, he couldn’t quite help himself, tracing the patterns and turning the cuff around his wrist whenever he stopped paying attention.

He and Noct had convinced Luna to come out with them, to an arcade because somehow neither of them had actually managed to grow up at any point. Which had been fine when he’d been kicking Noct’s ass at Zombie Shootdown IV, but now that they’d paused for a snack he kept finding himself messing with the cuff. And kind of wondering if all the greasy, terrible food would make him taste any different, like supposedly grass-fed garula were so much better than ones that just ate whatever garula ate that wasn’t grass. Would Ignis prefer he have a salad? Or was pizza okay? Would asking be super weird or just kinda weird?

And would Ignis-

A fry bouncing off his forehead rudely interrupted his thoughts. “Hey!”

Luna rolled her eyes, reaching over to pick the impromptu projectile up and drop it on Noct’s plate. “And why did you feel the need to steal one of mine for that?”

Noct nudged it away with a finger so it wouldn’t touch any of his. “You weren’t eating it.” Luna and Prompto shared a look. Sometimes, there was just no accounting for dragon sensibilities. “Anyway, if somebody would stop zoning out all over the place, I wouldn’t have had to do that.”

Prompto scrubbed at his forehead, rubbing away any bits of salt or grease that might have stuck. “I’m not zoning out.”

“Seriously? That’s the defense you’re gonna go with?” He rolled his eyes, turning to Luna instead. “Back me up.”

Luna looked apologetic but she nodded nonetheless. “You do seem a bit distracted today. Is everything okay?”

Et tu, Luna? “Yeah! I’m fine!” I’m just obsessing over my new boss, who is also a vampire, and surprisingly less terrifying than he should totally be, he didn’t say. Barely. “I mean, I’m kinda tired, I guess, but that’s the new… job stuff.” It was enough of the truth that he could remember it and they would have started to wonder eventually if he never whined about a job again. “It’s nothing bad.”

“I was gonna ask if you had enough money to eat out lately. You didn’t mention getting hired. Where at this time?” Noct took a bite of his burger in the middle, the rest of the statement coming out muffled and just distinct enough that he couldn’t pretend to not hear it. 

“First, ew, I didn’t come out for see-food today, dude, and second, nowhere fancy.” Lie. “Just working for a guy. Odd jobs, that kinda thing, you know.”

He knew he’d said exactly the wrong thing when Noct’s eyes sharpened and he swallowed before he spoke up again. He didn’t know what wrong thing it was, unfortunately, so he didn’t know how to head Noct off at the pass. “Odd jobs?”

“Yeah, you know, like... “ He had to wrack his brain for things Ignis’ ad had said but that he’d never actually done. “Picking up laundry, grocery shopping, odd… stuff.” Noct looked suspiciously at Luna, who shrugged. “Hey! Hey, no, no talking about me in front of my face without talking! Rude.”

Despite his protests, the silent conversation continued for another minute or so while Prompto sulked and ate his fries. Eventually Noct huffed and propped his chin on one hand, elbow on the table. “Whatever. So who’s this guy? Maybe we know him.”

Crap. “Uh…” His eyes darted away. “Oh! Hey, look, it’s bonus hour! Everything gives double tickets! We should-”

“Prompto.” That was Noct’s concerned voice. Prompto ignored it.

“-totally take advantage of that. If I can get like a hundred more stickers, I can get that little-

“Prompto!”

“-figure of Malboro-kun they just got in!”

“Prompto, I swear to Bahamut, if you don’t stop-”

“Noctis, there are children present.”

Luna’s calm warning stopped them both in their tracks. She crossed her arms on the edge of the table, looking calmly between the two of them. “Now, I’m sure Prompto has a good reason for not wanting to tell us. Don’t you, Prompto?”

“Um.”

“And at the same time, I’m sure he realizes that we only want the best for him, and thus we are concerned, as his good friends-”

“Only friends,” Noct muttered under his breath.

“...as his good friends, that someone may take advantage of him. Don’t you, Prompto?”

Understanding or no, he definitely felt lower than dirt for hiding things from them now. He slid down in his seat, drawing little ketchup lines on his plate with a fry. “Yeah. ‘Course I do.”

She smiled at him, but the table wiggled slightly as she kicked Noct for rolling his eyes. 

What felt even lower than lower than dirt? He swallowed hard, taking a large bite of his food just to do something other than talk with his mouth. What could he even say? Visions of dancing, cackling, legally binding contracts flashed through his head, followed swiftly by an utterly disappointed Ignis wearing an expression Prompto had never actually seen on him but that he could obviously vividly imagine. That was actually worse. “Um. Well, it’s… it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but he’s kinda… He likes privacy and stuff. I mean, you wouldn’t like it if I went blabbing secrets about you, right, Noct?”

Noct looked torn between agreeing and pressing the obvious advantage Luna had won them. “That’s different. You’re my friend, not my employee.”

“Yeah, okay, I guess that’s true. But like, I kinda like this new gig, right? And him. My boss, I mean. As a boss! Not like-” Crap. Abort! Abort! “It’s… you know, kinda easy. And since he’s rich, he doesn’t really care how much he pays, so, um-” He realized he’d said too much already. “Not that any of that matters! Cause I signed a contract!”

Noct and Luna were doing that talking-but-not-talking thing again and Prompto dropped his head to the table with a sigh, hard enough that his plate rattled. Doomed. So doomed. And what the hell had his traitorous mouth started spewing in the middle there? Extra doomed!

Noct making the sort of annoyed sound that meant he totally didn’t agree with whatever decision had just been reached made him tilt his head enough to look up. Noct had his arms crossed, just this side of petulance, and Luna was frowning at him. Then she frowned at Prompto, instead, and he liked that even less. “As I said, we’re both a bit concerned-”

Prompto didn’t get a chance to hear the rest of Luna’s concern, which was probably for the best since she was a lot better at needling things out of him than Noct was, if she could get Noct to go along with her long game style. Apparently today was not one of those days. 

“Ugh, this is ridiculous. Whatever.” Noct leaned forward, voice dropping into what Prompto had privately dubbed his ‘I’m being sneaky except dragons suck at sneaky’ voice. “Is it selling drugs?”

“What?! No!” Prompto sat bolt upright, banging his knee on the table with a yelp. Where had that even come from?!

Noct was undeterred, although out of the corner of his eye, he could see Luna covering her face. “Is it MAKING drugs?”

“Noct!”

“Fine, okay. And it’s not prostitution?”   
  
“NO!” Prompto became distantly aware that his reactions were drawing far more attention than Noct’s questions, his face painfully scarlet. If blushes could become permanent, this one so would be. How could Noct even THINK that stuff, though?! Drugs?! And selling his body and-

Fuck, back up, wait a minute.

Something of his hesitation must have shown, because Noct choked in the middle of drinking. “Dude, I was like 80% joking. You’re seriously-”   
  
Luna set a hand on Noct’s arm, leaning closer to Prompto. “If you need help, we’re here for you.”

Fucking Six, he’d never been this embarrassed, not even that time he’d walked into the women’s changing room instead of the men’s because he’d been too busy recording his awesome lap time on his phone to pay attention. Not even the time he’d totally tripped and fell down the hill right in front of the entire girls’ swim team. Not even- Okay, he’d been embarrassed a lot, and this one took the cake. 

“I don’t-” His voice squeaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m not doing or selling or making or anything drugs.” Was that a lie? “And I’m definitely not a prostitute. It’s nothing illegal!” That was definitely a lie. Six give him strength. “I just really can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.”

After a minute of one of the most awkward silences Prompto had ever been a party to, Noct sighed. “Yeah, okay. Rich people are weird. I get it. If you can’t talk, you can’t talk. It’s an okay job, though, right?”

That sounded more like the Noct that offered over daggerquill rice to go punch his ex-manager if it would really make him feel better. “Yeah, it’s okay. Some of us working stiffs can’t just follow in dad’s footsteps, you know?”

This time, he at least saw the fry-jectile coming and dodged out of the way, letting it sail harmlessly over his shoulder. Luna sighed something about making more work for the employees who cleaned up in here, but they were used to that argument and used to ignoring it.

Once they’d finished eating, the conversation carefully steered away from anything potentially dangerous, Prompto challenged Noct to best two out of three at Mortal Kwehbat 2 just to prove he was fine, everything was fine, and certainly nothing strange was going on in any way, shape, or form. They were usually fairly closely matched at that game (unlike Zombie Shootdown IV) so if Prompto were off his game, it would be super obvious. 

But by the time choconinja master Warkden delivered the final fatality, Noct was laughing and cursing and nudging his shoulder to throw off his combos almost like that whole weird conversation had never happened. “Dude, I told you, Warkden is unbeatable.”

Noct pressed the coin return a couple times, checking to see if the game felt like returning his gil for such a poor performance. “Yeah, whatever, that’s not what you were saying last round. I shouldn’t have switched to Johnny Kweh. He just sucks.”

“Uhhuh. Blame it on the pixels, dude.” He nudged into Noct, throwing an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go talk Luna into Life or Dance, huh?”

It wasn’t so much talking into, honestly, as promising not to make her look bad if they did team mode, but the rest of Prompto’s anxiety about the whole thing managed to drift away somewhere in there. He was pretty sure he caught Noct still staring at his covered wrist a few times but wrote it off as his own paranoia. 

He was still humming some dance hit or another when Noct pulled up to his apartment building to drop him off. He’d barely got a hand on the door, opening his mouth for goodbyes, when Noct leaned over the seat. “Hey… Just. If you need anything, let me know, okay?”

“Uh…?” He tried to catch Luna’s eye in the side mirror, but she was also watching Noct. “I guess? See ya, Noct. Luna.” 

Out of the car, he waved to Luna as Noct pulled away from the curb. What was that about?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would play the shit out of Mortal Kwehbat. Also, Life or Dance is kind of a cross between Dance Dance Revolution and a first person shooter. I'd play that too, but I'd be so bad at it. Luna would never let me be on a team with her. (She's got like half the high scores on the arcade machine.)


	11. Chapter 11

The third time Ignis found himself thinking about Prompto at work, he conceded that he did, perhaps, have something of a problem.

The first time had been after their first feeding together (which made it sound very… untoward, and he made a mental note to come up with a more innocuous way to say it) and he’d been able to write it off as a sort of neighborly concern. Prompto had been very enthusiastic about a very normal sort of meal, and someone of his age shouldn’t have to think quite so much about food, even if his personal situation was benefiting Ignis.

The second time… well, all right, the second time was more of a series of times over the intervening weeks, but he considered it all one time because he was stubborn and refused to admit what was in front of his face. Or in his head, as the case may be. And yes, he would admit he was stubborn to a fault before he would admit that he was… rather taken with Prompto Argentum.

There. He’d said it. Or at least thought it. That had to count for something.

It could also be classified as effectively one time because it was by and large all the same thought: what if he invited Prompto over outside of their schedule? His social calendar obviously wasn’t brimming over with things to do, and from what little Prompto had mentioned about his friends in passing, he imagined his situation was much the same. They’d become comfortable with each other, certainly, and…

That was about where Ignis shut down such thoughts and steadfastly turned his attention to expense reports and purchase orders and annoying Ravus in the most professional way possible. That was always good for at least an hour’s distraction.

Unfortunately, this third time could not be lumped in with the ever-growing ‘second time’ because it was… different. He refused to look too closely at why it was different or how things had set about changing, but rather than contemplating Prompto’s latest visit, he found himself lost in thought, cursor blinking in the middle of a half-written sentence, contemplating… Prompto.

And that, of course, simply wouldn’t do for a number of reasons, not least of which being Prompto’s current employment status. What if he were taking advantage? Even if Prompto had begun texting him for not strictly job-related reasons and, against his better judgment, Ignis had yet to put a stop to it. Hardly professional, but both of them were equally to blame, perhaps. Ignis’ increasing lack of care for professionalism in their relationship was unfortunately a problem all his own.

He’d even begun to consider Prompto something of a… well, a friend, for lack of a better term. He certainly hadn’t intended anything of the sort, but Prompto had a way of getting under his skin and into his head that Ignis would despise in absolutely anyone but Prompto.

He gave up on his abandoned sentence, collecting his half-empty cup to refill in the breakroom, more to give himself something to do than out of any actual need. With no subordinates to frighten, though, the trip took a depressingly short amount of time, and he returned to his office, no more level-headed than when he’d left. His office which was not as empty as he’d left it.

Lunafreya straightened up from repositioning the tiny dragon so it appeared to be attacking a set of Niflheim nesting dolls. “There you are! I was starting to worry I wouldn’t get to say hello.”

“Perish the thought.” He rounded his desk to set down his cup when an absolutely awful idea came to him. A terrible idea. One which he would, under normal circumstances, certainly never consider. “Actually… as unusual as it is for me to say this, these reports are likely to do my head in soon. Would you accompany me on a walk, perhaps? It’s nearly lunch time, I could do with a break.”

“That sounds wonderful.” She sounded nothing but cheerful and polite, yet Ignis had the sudden suspicion that somehow she had planned this. Which was absolutely impossible, and yet. She sent him an expectant look when he didn’t immediately move to follow his own suggestion. “Unless you meant not now?”

He shook his head slightly to clear it. “No, just give me a moment to shut things down.” And save that infernal document. Quickly enough, he’d locked his computer and joined her at the door. “After you.”

She graced him with a smile before leading the way out of the office. He locked the door behind him and caught up to her at the elevator. She’d pressed the up button. “I was thinking we could go to the atrium?”

He only nodded his agreement, watching the elevator come closer to their floor. As a company founded by elves, the top few floors of the building were given over to a large atrium, complete with a flock of very noisy birds. Ignis rarely went up there, but it was hardly surprising Lunafreya would be familiar with it. 

They rode the elevator in comfortable silence, the twittering and rustling of birds among the trees greeting them as soon as they stepped out. It truly was a scenic place, Ignis had to admit, and uncrowded at this time of day, with hidden vents in the walls and ceilings letting in a breeze to avoid the dense mugginess of a greenhouse. 

For a moment they walked in silence, until Lunafreya glanced over at him. “So. Is there anything I can help with besides a walk? It’s rare for you to admit that anything except my brother bothers you.”

It was, wasn’t it? When was the last time he’d admitted much of anything to anyone? With one glaring exception lately. Later, he would consider that perhaps a momentary insanity fueled by stress and uncertainty had come over him then. Now, he cleared his throat. “There is… That is to say, I have had something on my mind lately. You are in a relationship, is that correct?”

Which was the absolute worst way to go about asking such things, he realized too late. Lunafreya looked at him like that was the last question she’d been expecting. “Ignis, if you-”

“I apologize. That came out… I’m afraid I spoke too hastily. I meant to ask, as you are in a relationship, perhaps you may have some… insights into such things.” He kept his eyes straight ahead on the path, unable to look at her again.

The seconds ticked by as she didn’t answer. Ignis realized this was likely how people usually felt talking to him. It was highly effective. “Well.” Her voice was quiet, a strange note to it that he couldn’t place. “I suppose, yes, Noctis and I have been in a relationship for some time. I don’t know if it’s quite enough for me to have ‘insight’ exactly, but I’ll certainly help however I can.”

“That’s all anyone could ask, of course.” He studied the foliage above them. Some sort of pine, he thought. Or a fir. He wasn’t an expert at non-edible plants. The damage from his temporary insanity had already been done, he may as well forge ahead. “Before things began to develop between the two of you, were you ever concerned you were making a mistake? That perhaps it would be better for things to stay as they were?”

He could feel her eyes on him. He steadfastly refused the temptation to look back at her. Ah, a hydrangea. That one he recognized. 

She hummed consideringly. “I… Yes, I suppose I did, a bit. We’ve known each other since we were children, so in some ways going beyond friendship felt natural, but there’s always some fear of the unknown, of being unable to go back to the way things were if something goes wrong.”

That was what he was afraid of, yes, among other things. It was a good portion of his reticence, at least. “What convinced you to take that risk, then?”

Her quiet chuckle drew his attention fully back to her at last. She looked to be very amused at whatever thought she had yet to share. “I just did. Or he did, really. We sort of met in the middle.” She grinned at him. “For the financially-minded among us, consider it like a risk-benefit analysis. For us, the benefits far outweighed the risks.”

He returned that grin with a frown of his own, but it was softened by fondness. Very few other people would have gotten away with that comment. “Your translation is appreciated.”

“I thought it might be. One must always take care to speak to one’s audience.” He supposed if anyone would know that, it would be Lunafreya, society darling that she was. They walked in companionable silence again for another moment or two before she glanced up at him again. “May I ask who the lucky person is?”

He’d been hoping she wouldn’t. He had no good reason to keep Prompto to himself, not really, but still something in him very much did not want to share, even this much. It was childish, perhaps even dragonish, but for now he allowed himself this one conceit. “You may, but I’m afraid I’m not prepared to answer at this time. For their privacy, and also… I feel I should perhaps breach this subject with them first.”

There was also the possibility that Prompto would reject a relationship, and Ignis’ pride had bowed this much for the conversation but refused to go further. If Prompto rejected him, certainly no one else would hear about the matter from him.

Lunafreya twined her fingers together in front of her, still glancing at him in curious concern but largely keeping her eyes on the path as he was. “I see.” No, her voice said, she didn’t, but she would let him have this point. “I hope I was able to help with the rest of your problem, at least. I’m glad you felt you could ask me.”

He did his best to put on a reassuring smile for her. He was grateful, truly. His problem, although complicated, was not wholly uncommon, nor wholly insurmountable. “You helped a great deal. I appreciate-” His phone buzzed in his pocket and Ignis reached for it without thinking before recalling that he had company at the moment. “My apologies, Lunafreya-”

She shook her head, a little smile playing on her lips. “Oh, don’t worry about me. Go ahead.”

He hesitated a moment longer, but Lunafreya had yet to be the sort to say one thing and mean another. He pulled out his phone, swiping to open his messages while expecting it to be something work related.  _ Hey, I was thinking, maybe I should bring Interview with a Vampire with me tomorrow? Can’t believe you’ve never seen it! _

Speak of the devil, as it were.

Ignis cleared his throat awkwardly, even though he knew Lunafreya was far too polite to peek at his private conversations. “I should respond to this, do you mind if we-”

Luna looked at her watch quickly with a small, startled sound that Ignis did not believe for one moment. “Oh! Will you look at that? I totally forgot I was here to have lunch with Ravus, and now I’m late. You’ll excuse me, won’t you?”

For a moment, he wasn’t quite sure how to react, but then he chuckled. He imagined it was the response she’d been looking for. “Of course. Give him my regards.”

She grinned impishly before turning and making her way back to the elevator, not apparently in any sort of hurry. It made him pause, wondering slightly at her greatly improved mood, but Lunafreya had been openly mysterious since he’d met her. Analyzing it now would likely do him no favors. He chuckled again before returning to his phone.

_ If you feel that’s necessary. I believe I can procure some popcorn. _


	12. Chapter 12

Prompto stretched until his back popped, groaning happily. He was full, he was comfy, and the company was…

Actually, the company was pretty great, too, but the thought suddenly reminded him he wasn’t watching a movie with Noct. He could feel his cheeks growing warm and prayed that vampires couldn’t see in the dark. He had a sneaking suspicion vampires could totally see in the dark.

He coughed awkwardly, stretching some more to cover it up as the credits rolled. His wrist twinged and he frowned at it. It’d been doing that a lot more lately, and he’d considered asking Ignis if he would switch to the other one for a while but hadn’t quite worked up the nerve for it yet. 

“Is something the matter?”

...Vampires could totally see in the dark. Prompto squeaked. “What? No! I mean, no, you know how it is, just sitting in one place watching a movie, get kinda stiff. It was pretty great, though, right? And like super vampire-y!”

“It was…” Although Prompto couldn’t see in the dark, he’d become familiar enough with that particular tone to know what expression went with it, that strangely quirked not-quite-frown that said he was trying to be diplomatic and knew he was failing. Ignis stood, moving to turn the lights on and then cover the TV again. That he actually had one had been a shock, too, but it had been hidden in the wall behind a pair of decorative doors that looked like just more boring artwork. Figures rich people would be so rich they’d hide all their cool stuff. TV once more hidden away, Ignis paused, and now Prompto could see the exact expression he’d expected. “Well, it was certainly… about things called vampires, at least.”

“Oh, come on!” Prompto groaned, grabbing his empty popcorn bowl to take it back to the kitchen. “It’s a classic!”

“Is it, now? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned that in the last ten minutes, so I had forgotten.”

Prompto made a face at Ignis for that one. “Look, if you appreciated a vital piece of cinematic history when you saw it, then maybe I wouldn’t have to bring it up so much! The cinematography alone is, like, amazing, okay? And the costuming! And the makeup, and just… Ugh, whatever, you probably only like stuff with subtitles or something, huh?”

“Untrue. I like works with no words at all quite a bit, as well.” Ignis’ tone was flat, the sort he used when he was being ironic, but Prompto still had to stare at him for a good ten seconds before he was sure Ignis wasn’t telling the truth. Ignis merely watched him in return, face serene.

“I didn’t even know they made movies without words. That sounds boring.” He rinsed his bowl, something he may or may not have bothered with at home, but Ignis’ house had way more rules than anywhere else he’d ever been. 

And the way his expression went mildly approving said he’d noticed Prompto following that particular rule. Prompto felt himself blush again, but Ignis spoke before either of them would have to acknowledge it. “I can see why you enjoy this movie, though. As you said, the cinematography was very beautifully done. A photographer like yourself must naturally have an eye for that sort of thing.”

Or Ignis could just make the blush worse, instead. “I mean, I wouldn’t really call myself a photographer.”

“Then you sell yourself even shorter than you did at our interview.” Ignis reached into a cupboard, returning with a can of Ebony. Someday, Prompto was going to ask if vampires could live off coffee instead of blood. Someday when he was feeling adventurous or maybe had a little bit of a death wish. 

That day was not this day. “Well, I… Wait, how would you know?”

“I’ve seen what you’ve posted to your Visage account, of course.” He said it so easily, but Prompto was absolutely positive he’d never even mentioned having a Visage account, so Ignis had to have found it on his own. Ignis had Visage-stalked him. “There is room for improvement, perhaps, but you have an impeccable eye for composition.”

Prompto was still stuck back on being shocked over the Visage-stalking revelation, so it took him a moment to catch up on the fact that Ignis had just complimented him. A lot. “Oh. It’s… I mean. You’ve… seen my stuff?”

“Hardly something to lie about.” The words came out just a bit stilted, and if Prompto didn’t know better, he’d have almost thought Ignis were embarrassed. “It was somewhat by accident, but I quite enjoyed looking at your work. Especially your landscape photography.”

What a strange feeling, wanting simultaneously to melt into the floor and never return and also feeling absolutely weightless like he could float away at any moment. “I’d, um. I’d show you some more, except you kind of banned my camera, so…”

At first, Ignis just leaned against the counter, sipping his coffee. Eventually he nodded. “Perhaps I shall have to reconsider that.”

Prompto’s heart attempted an escape, flying abruptly into his throat and making it hard to breathe and swallow. He did his best to swallow it back down, with only some success.

Ignis continued as if he didn’t notice. “But for now…” He made a show of checking his watch. “We’ve gone rather longer than usual for us. Will you be fine getting home?”

From his throat to below his stomach in a split second, Prompto’s heart was probably going to get whiplash. He’d enjoyed spending evenings with Ignis before, but he’d never felt quite so unhappy to have one end before. “Huh?” He pulled out his phone to check the time and muttered a curse under his breath when he saw how right Ignis was. “Shit, I didn’t think about that. The trains are gonna stop before I can get to the station. Guess I’m calling a cab.”

“Nonsense.” Ignis pushed away from the counter, gesturing for Prompto to come with him. “I’ll drive you home, it will be easier.”

His heart was back where it should be now, but beating easily double time. “You really don’t have to do that.”

“No.” Ignis glanced at him, lips twisted into what Prompto was coming to realize was amusement. “Which is why I offered.”

He had just enough time to think whether he really wanted Ignis to see his neighborhood, which was an overwhelming no, before his stupid mouth was stupid and said stupid stuff. “Then yeah, okay! Sounds great!”

 

Shit.


	13. Chapter 13

His building had a dedicated underground parking structure, which, for as much as Ignis spent on the place, was only right. Prompto, on the other hand, seemed much more taken by the place. “Please don’t touch anything.”

Prompto pulled his hand back quickly, sidling away from the car he’d been admiring. “I wasn’t gonna touch it!”

“Yes, and when the alarm went off, it would surely be no fault of yours. My car is this way.” He led the way, keeping half his attention on Prompto at all times, just in case. It wasn’t that he assumed any ill intent, but even in Ignis’ apartment, Prompto had a tendency to play with things when his mind began to wander, even expensive things if they caught his fancy. While he had surprised himself by not minding overly much, he doubted very much his neighbors would feel the same about their own property. 

Ignis unlocked his car as they approached, certainly not the fanciest in the garage, but well-cared for and top of the line. Or so it appeared to him.

“Whoa.” Prompto sounded like Ignis assumed someone would sound while having some sort of religious experience. “This is… This is your car?”

He opened his door, waiting for Prompto to open his own. “Yes? Is something the matter?”

“No!” Prompto pulled the door open quickly enough that Ignis frowned, not quite admonishing him to be more careful. “This is the opposite of a matter! Er, uh… Anyway, you know what I mean. If you’re trying to be incognito taking me home, though, this car is not gonna cut it.”

Prompto finally ducked into the car and Ignis joined him, sighing softly as Prompto bounced on the seat a bit before pulling the door shut behind himself. He’d given up asking him not to do such things, since it seemed to be just an inherent bit of Promptoness that couldn’t be tamed. Ignis started up the car, checking his mirrors and pulling on his seat belt. And frowning when Prompto made no move to do the same. “Seatbelt.”

“Do I-” The words died quickly as Prompto glanced up at him. “Right, sorry.” Just as quickly, Prompto reached for his seatbelt and clasped it. 

Ignis hummed his approval, putting the car in reverse and backing out of his parking spot. “I trust you can give me directions?” Only silence greeted his question, so he glanced over as he pulled to a stop at the exit to the garage. “Prompto?”

“Um.” Prompto bit his lip. “I don’t… really drive? But… no, it’s okay, I got this!” He pulled out his phone, fingers flying as he flipped through pages of apps.

A break in traffic called his attention back to driving before he could do more than raise an eyebrow. He knew Prompto’s address and could make an educated guess about general directions, at least, but he was expecting perhaps a bit more help from the person who actually lived at the address in question. “You don’t know how to get to your own home without a map?”

Prompto grumbled something under his breath that Ignis was too distracted to catch, but the tone made it through clear enough. “Look, I take the train. I get to the station, the train goes zoom, bam, I’m there. I definitely don’t walk halfway across town just to memorize roads.” Prompto’s phone beeped. “Left up here, it says.”

He put on his signal to turn. He perhaps should have considered that, but he knew so few people who didn’t drive. “I apologize. You’re right.”

More silence followed. They came to a red light, so he had time to look over this time, to find Prompto watching his phone screen intently, red tinging his ears. He must have felt Ignis watching him, because he glanced up, went even more red, and looked immediately back at his phone. “It’s okay. It’s fine.”

Sometimes he felt like he knew Prompto so well, and others… The light changed before he could press any further. 

For some time, they drove in silence, Prompto only breaking it to relay directions from his phone. Ignis found himself at a loss, unable to think what he might have done to cause it this time. Not knowing what it might have been, he didn’t want to risk making it worse, either, and so held his tongue.

The buildings around them slowly became older and less impressive. He knew Prompto lived in what could be considered a poorer part of town, although he’d never been near the area. They’d just passed a quiet strip mall when Prompto directed him to turn into the parking lot. “You can just drop me off here. I can walk the rest of the way.”

Luckily, traffic had slowed enough here for Ignis to look at him. “At this hour? I’ll do no such thing.”

“Seriously, it’s fine. I’m just around the corner. Maybe like two corners. I’ve walked it all the time.” Ignis could hear something tight in Prompto’s voice but he couldn’t quite pick out what it was.

“At-” He glanced at the clock in the dash. “Nearly midnight?”

He could hear Prompto shifting in the passenger seat without even looking. “A couple times?”

“Prompto, when I said I would drive you home, I meant home, not an unspecified distance from home. Where from here?”

A tense pause and then a sigh. “Second right.”

The second right had a streetlight out. Ignis frowned at it as he drew closer to the corner. “I’m very glad I didn’t let you walk this.”

“Yeah, well…” Prompto had put his phone away when Ignis looked again. “I just didn’t want you to have to come… here.”

“Prompto-” 

“It’s fine! I know what it looks like. I mean, hey, I live here, right? I see it every day. Home sweet home and whatever. Next right.” 

Ignis’ frown felt like it had melded permanently to his face, and he followed Prompto’s next few directions without comment until Prompto was directing him toward a low apartment building with a dark, largely featureless facade. He had a feeling he knew how this would go, so he reached for Prompto’s wrist before he’d entirely stopped the car, well before Prompto could have launched himself out the door. “What do you think I believe this neighborhood looks like?”

He felt Prompto tug against his grip, although not hard enough Ignis felt the need to let him go. “It’s like the exact opposite of your place.”

That was true enough, and he supposed he could see why that might bother Prompto. He didn’t let go. “It is far older, it’s true, but there’s no shame in that.”

“You don’t-”

He chuckled wryly. “If you’re about to say I don’t have to say that just to make you feel better, you should know I never say anything just to make someone feel better.”

Prompto paused… and then began laughing as well, if somewhat weakly. “Yeah, guess that’s true. Still, better not to have your fancy car sitting out here any longer than necessary. I’ll see you later?”

He’d been looking for an opening all night to bring up what he and Lunafreya had talked about. This would seem to be the perfect one… and yet. He released Prompto’s wrist. “Of course. I look forward to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a good thing this scene worked out to be Ignis' POV, because Prompto's POV for this scene would have consisted largely of mental screaming and internal flailing.


	14. Chapter 14

Noct’s apartment was about what you’d expect a dragon’s apartment to look like, if you didn’t know dragons all that well. The first time Noct had invited him over to the Lucis Caelum estate, he’d been shocked at how neat and clean everything was, especially when there was so much of it: decorative weapons and shields covering the walls except where they were interrupted by ridiculously expensive-looking paintings, comfortable furniture piled high with pillows and throws, shelves full of equally expensive trinkets and knick knacks like the world’s priciest garage sale. It was a hoard, but a hoard impeccably cared for by a legion of servants and staff.

Noct’s apartment… well. Noct’s apartment was all of that without the legion of servants but with the addition of one very willful Luna. 

Even Luna could only do so much, but her influence kept at least part of the apartment looking presentable. As presentable as Noct ever cared to look when he didn’t absolutely have to, anyway. The kitchen, for instance, was largely free from clutter, and Noct’s bedroom was less of a controlled landslide than the living room, if only because Luna had threatened to never set foot in there again if she feared for her life every time he snored. If he had to peg a reason Luna hadn’t moved in with Noct yet (a reason that wasn’t ‘because Noct was stupid and hadn’t put a ring on it’), he’d guess it was that. Elves, as far as he knew, liked their wide open spaces, their moving air and gentle background sounds. Woodland creatures, whatever. A dragon’s cave/apartment, however expensive, was definitely not that.

Today, he found himself picking his way around a stack of board games that he’d only ever played half of at best, a pyramid of collectable soft drink cans (those were new, commemorating the anniversary of something or another that Noct may or may not have cared about as long as they were collectible), and three piles of…

Prompto stopped to poke at one. “Dude! When’d you get the full line of Malboro-kun figurines?!”

A muffled voice called out from Noct’s bedroom. “Like last week. You want one?”

A dragon, offering him a piece of its hoard. Hashtag blessed. “Are you kidding?” He dug through the piles to find Choco-chan, Malboro-kun’s adventurous best friend and Prompto’s unashamedly favorite character. He squealed a little when he found it, cuddling the box. “This is the best! You’re sure you don’t mind?”

Noct finally dragged himself out into the living room, still yawning. He’d probably only bothered getting out of bed when he heard Prompto let himself in. “Sure. I mean, you’re basically part of my hoard, too, so it’s not really giving it up, more just shifting stuff around. It’s fine.”

“Noct, that was creepy, but I love you, too.”  

“Yeah, yeah.” Noct yawned again, flopping onto the couch and reaching for a game controller. “I’m just that great, I know.”

Prompto rolled his eyes but joined Noct on the couch anyway. Noct wasn’t, unfortunately, all that wrong. “I said it was the best, not you. Duh.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Prom.” 

The other controller was dropped in his lap unceremoniously, Noct already flipping through menus on the screen. “Sure, playing games sounds great, Noct! Thanks for asking!” Noct’s eyes slid to find Prompto and Prompto stuck his tongue out at Noct in return. Theirs was the most mature of relationships.

For a moment, neither of them moved… until Noct went for the escalation, ruffling Prompto’s perfectly groomed hair. That was war! Prompto punched Noct hard in the shoulder, as was their custom, and his wrist immediately flared into unhappy protest. War was immediately regretted.

He’d come straight from Ignis’ today. Ignis had somewhere or another to be this afternoon, so they’d met earlier than usual, and rather than go back to his own place like he normally would, he’d gotten a text from Noct to come hang out. It had seemed like a great idea until this exact moment.

But this time it wasn’t the threat of legally binding documents that froze his lungs at the mere idea of being discovered. It was watching a dumb movie with Ignis, or laughing at Ignis while he pretended to be unamused, or eating Ignis’ cooking, or a dozen other things, all Ignis. None of that would still be there if he let anyone find out. 

That actually made it worse.

Of course, for once, Noct was stupidly observant. He pulled back immediately when Prompto clutched at his wrist with a hissed breath. “Are you okay? Let me-” He reached for Prompto’s wrist, and somehow Prompto found himself spontaneously gaining teleportation abilities, because he couldn’t have said how else he’d suddenly gotten to the other side of the couch. Noct’s eyes widened and then narrowed, focusing suddenly on the cuff he was wearing. “Prompto?”

There were probably ways to safely defuse the situation, to play it off, to convince Noct that everything was fine, everything was cool, he was absolutely not hiding the fact that he was selling himself as food for a vampire… but at that moment, Prompto could not think of a single one. So, of course, he went the exact opposite way, his stupid mouth running headlong into all of the trouble. “Wow, dude, your shoulder is like made of iron or something today. Is that a dragon thing? Seems like it should be a dragon thing.”

As Noct scooted closer again, Prompto stood up entirely. Good going, not suspicious at all. Noct, at least, stopped where he was on the couch. “You’re wearing that cuff again.”

Lies. He was wearing the brown one today. “I mean, I’m wearing… a cuff? It’s like a fashion statement. All the kids are doing it.” 

Noct just shot him a look that said Prompto was full of bullshit and they both knew it. “And why do you smell like blood? Is that fashion?”

...Shit. He must have opened the wounds when he punched Noct. He tried to laugh it off. “Blood? Buddy, you’re a dragon, not a hound dog, hate to break it to ya. I don’t think your nose is working right.”

“Stop lying, Prompto.” His voice was firm, not Noct who was Prompto’s lazy-ass friend, but Noct who was a dragon, who was heir to more money than Prompto had probably ever imagined, who was used to getting his way. But for once, no way could Prompto let him. “Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong!” That was definitely an overreaction, so he forced himself to sit back on the arm of the couch to cancel it out. “I just… I’ve been trying not to be so whiny lately, you know? I spend a lot of my time telling you about stuff going wrong in my life. That’s gotta get old.”

He felt absolutely awful when Noct’s face fell. He knew he had a good reason, multiple good reasons, but he still hated it. “Something’s wrong. You’ve been all cagey around me and Luna lately, you won’t tell us stuff like you used to, and bullshit, it does not get old listening to you. You’re my friend, dumbass.” On the plus side, that made Prompto feel a little less bad. Noct kept going before he could answer, though. “You’re my best friend, and something is going on, and I can’t help if you won’t tell me what it is. Now gimme your wrist.”

“Noct, stop it, it’s-”

“If you say it’s fine, I’ll... I don’t know what, but I’ll figure it out. Give me your wrist.”

“No.”

Both of them looked equally surprised at the firmness in Prompto’s voice. He rarely denied Noct anything, so for him to do it and actually mean it this time…

For a second, neither of them moved. Then Noct’s frown deepened and he reached abruptly for Prompto’s wrist again.

“Don’t!” Prompto lurched off the arm of the couch quickly enough to nearly dump himself on his ass, barely catching his balance to stay on his feet. The absolute picture of innocence. Nothing to hide. Nope.

“Prompto.” Noct’s eyes were doing that thing where they went red around the edges. “Give. Me. Your. Wrist.”

Dragons and their hoards. Sometimes he forgot exactly how protective Noct could be, even when it came to what he saw as protecting Prompto from himself. He laughed, only a lot nervously. “Seriously. Buddy. You’re totally overreacting. I mean, I just like jewelry. Now. Suddenly. That’s not weird! I… I… okay, I was totally lying. It is prostitution.”

Sometimes he also forgot how quickly dragons could move since the only two he ever really saw were Noct (lazy) and Noct’s dad (too good for that shit) but when Noct reached for his wrist again, he barely had enough time to trip before Noct was there, catching his wrist to pull him up before he could hit the ground. And then not letting go after.

“Noct…” His shoulders slumped, but he didn’t stop his friend from undoing the buckle on his cuff. Or unwrapping the bandages underneath it. Or turning his wrist over to see the multiple, paired sets of scars and scabs littering the skin above his pulse. One set was bleeding sluggishly. “It’s not-” But he didn’t know what it could be except what it shouldn’t be, and his voice trailed off into silence while Noct just stood and looked and Prompto felt himself slowly unravel under what he was sure would be his friend’s disapproval.

“Prompto.” No longer just red around the edges, the blue had by now bled completely out of Noct’s eyes. While Prompto had never, and would never, be scared of his best friend, he could perhaps relate with people who found dragons a bit unsettling when they got like this. “These are bite marks.”

How was he supposed to deny that? Say he’d been mobbed by some really big mosquitos? “...Yeah.”

“Vampire. Bite marks.”

He flinched. “Yeah. About that-”

Noct shook his wrist and the rest of him with it. “I know you’re not this stupid, Prompto. What were you thinking? Did you at least get them checked out?” He huffed. “No, you’d be in fucking quarantine right now if you had. What if you’d turned? Were you gonna tell me then?”

Part of him wanted to reassure Noct that he had totally asked all of these questions himself, too, but another part of him realized that probably wouldn’t be even the tiniest bit actually reassuring. And then he realized at least a couple of Noct’s questions didn’t add up. “W-where do you think I got them?”

He almost took the question back when Noct just stared at him, expression confused and hurt. “What?”

It made up his mind, at least a little. There had to be a middle ground between hurting his best friend this much and hurting Ignis, right? He could totally find it! He was… nowhere near good enough, but he was determined, dammit! “Just. You kinda… I mean, if you’re thinking I like got attacked or something, I didn’t. I totally didn’t. I’d for sure tell you about that! I mean, who else would I tell, right? It’s not like many other people would care all that much and-”

“Prompto?”

“Right! Right. But I wasn’t attacked. I, uh… you remember that new job I wasn’t telling you about?”

He could see the moment the two thoughts clicked together in Noct’s mind. “So odd jobs means…”

To be fair, that hadn’t been entirely a lie. “Being vampire food is pretty odd. And it’s a job. So.”

Noct closed his eyes with a sigh, but he still hadn’t let go of Prompto’s wrist. “You’re gonna tell me everything.”

He was going to curl up under a rock and wish for death, at this rate. “I really can’t, Noct.” He didn’t even bother hiding how bad he felt about that, either. He felt absolutely awful. He just… couldn’t. “I said there’s a contract. It means I can’t just talk about stuff.”

He didn’t want to talk about stuff, either. But he didn’t want to tell Noct that part, not now. Maybe not ever.

When they opened, Noct’s eyes were back to blue. “If you’re scared of what he can do, my dad has great lawyers. Or if you’re worried about other stuff-”

“What?!” Yes, he could remember a time of being worried about… other stuff with Ignis, but that felt like a lifetime ago instead of weeks. “No! I mean, he’s… he’s not like that. Okay, maybe the needing the lawyers bit, but that’s my own fault if it is. Not the rest of it. No other stuff.”

“Are you sure?” Noct’s voice was openly concerned now, a match for his expression. Prompto revised his plan. Death under a rock was too good for him. “Seriously, Prom, you know I’ve got your back, right? I’m not gonna let…” 

He never had been the best at heartfelt declarations, but Prompto got the idea. And appreciated it. “I know. But really, it’s cool. He’s like…” He scrubbed at his nose with his free hand, mentally testing that line between hurting Noct and hurting Ignis again. “He’s nice, okay? I mean, he’s kinda scary, too, but so are you and half this city, that’s not weird. And he... “ 

Despite the unfinished thought, Noct obviously figured out his meaning because he finally dropped Prompto’s wrist, grabbing the bandage to help him rewrap it instead. “Shit, Prom. You can’t go around doing this all the time.”

Finally, a blush began to creep across his cheeks. He’d held it off so well, too. “It’s not all the time.”

“Often enough. Remember Luche?”

His blush got worse. Yeah, he did.

“And that girl with the weird hair. What was her name.”

“Okay, Noct, I-”

“And-”

“I get it! This isn’t like that!” Six, it was totally like that. Forget under a rock, he was going to spontaneously combust! He dropped back onto the couch, grabbing his cuff and fastening it on with a huff. “It’s a job. A good job. A weird job. But seriously, just a job.”

Noct dropped down next to him, carefully just far enough away not to touch. “Just a job. Right.”

They sat in silence for long enough that Prompto thought he would pop from the tension. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Noct or anywhere but his wrist, endless twisting the cuff around and around. Finally he heard Noct move, but he didn’t have time to more than flinch before a weight was dropped into his lap.

A controller.

He blinked, first at it, then up at Noct, who was likewise not watching him, back to flipping through game screens. “...Noct?”

Noct only barely glanced over at him. “What’re you waiting for? Templars aren’t gonna assassinate themselves.”


	15. Chapter 15

Prompto had been acting strangely since he arrived, subdued and nearly as nervous as he’d been the first time he’d come to Ignis’ apartment. He hadn’t even insulted Ignis’ decorating skills once, accidentally or otherwise, and he’d been far more reserved since Ignis had finished eating than usual, eyes straying to his wrist more often than not. 

At first, Ignis had thought perhaps his own bad mood had rubbed off on Prompto. There had been rumors for some time that the infection had reached Insomnia, but last night a diseased vampire had been found and put down only after causing a great deal of havoc and a few lost lives, civilian and police, leading to renewed calls for ‘something’ to be done. Certain malcontent factions were even calling for what might as well be witch hunts in this day and age, and Ignis had been uncomfortably on edge since he’d turned the morning news broadcast off in annoyance and anger. 

But now Prompto was barely picking at his meal despite Ignis’ best efforts at conversation, and he could only let so much pass without calling him on it. “Is something wrong?”

The guilty jump spoke volumes by itself. “W-wrong? No! Nope. No. Nothing’s even a little bit wrong. Everything great! It’s… um… yep. Great.”

Ignis wasn’t sure whether to be worried or annoyed that Prompto would try that badly to deceive him. Surely he’d know Ignis better by now; he certainly felt as if he knew Prompto. “Has something happened, then?”

“Happened?” Prompto’s voice broke on a pained squeak, and Ignis’ eyes narrowed. “Why would something happen?”

“Prompto.” He came around the table, setting a hand on Prompto’s shoulder, unable to miss how he tensed under Ignis’ touch. It nearly made him snatch his hand back, but he resisted the urge. “Whatever it is, it is obviously bothering you a great deal.” And beginning to bother Ignis himself, quite honestly. His mind was filling in dozens of unsavory scenarios, each worse than the last.

“It’s not… um.” Prompto took a deep breath, carefully setting his fork down on his plate and dropping his hands into his lap. Ignis could just pick out movement under the edge of the table as Prompto twisted the cuff on his wrist. “I…”

“You…?” He did his best to keep judgment out of his voice, no matter how much he wanted to shake an answer out of him, letting Prompto find the words he needed.

For some reason, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Prompto sighed despondently. “I. I just. It’s just…” His voice dropped to what could barely be considered a whisper. For better or worse, though, vampires had very good ears. “It’s just someone kind of found out.”

The uneasy premonition circling in his chest solidified into what felt like a chunk of ice around his heart. He couldn’t imagine Prompto being acquainted with the sort of people who’d made the news this morning but he was still human, and Ignis had noted his lack of good judgement before. This time, he gave in to the urge to pull his hand back, gripping the table instead to focus on the most immediate problem. “Found out as in you think someone suspects, or found out as in you told someone.”

“I wouldn’t tell! I… I signed all those things and I… I said I wouldn’t.” Prompto’s offended confidence faded quickly. Ignis waited, tense, as Prompto chewed his lip before finally answering. "I didn’t tell, I didn’t, but they more than suspect? The... the vampire thing, they figured that out. But I totally didn't say it was you! So they don't know that part. Um. Yeah."

“I see.” He didn’t see, at all. The ice in his chest was growing, spreading into his stomach. Neither of them seemed very interested in continuing their meal, so he collected their plates despite the amount of food still on them, returning them to the kitchen as something he could do without thinking overly much about it. 

Prompto stayed where he was at the table, which was probably for the best. "And it's probably cool! He's- They- Uh, it's not like they're gonna run around telling people. It'd just get me in trouble, right?"

It hurt, more than it probably should, to hear Prompto dismiss the very real problem only because he believed this friend would not wish to cause him trouble. How… loyal. Ignis set the plates in the sink, keeping his words neutral with an effort but unable and unwilling to keep the bite out of his tone. "Of course. It'd get you in trouble."

"Well, yeah. Like I said, I didn't tell him anything about you, right? So if he- I mean, they... shit, whatever, if he starts going around talking about any of this, it'd just come back on me, and he wouldn't do that." 

He sounded more confident now, his earlier apprehension clearly related to Ignis’ expected response. It made Ignis laugh shortly, bitter to his own ears. "You honestly think it's that simple?"

That, apparently, was enough to clue Prompto in that something was terribly amiss. "Y-yes?"

"It isn't." He curled his fingers toward his palms, too-sharp nails biting at the skin. "My information is in your phone. Your email. If your friend goes to the police out of concern for your safety, do you know what will happen?"

"He's not gonna do that!"

"You don’t know that!" The ice in his chest shattered, nearly painful enough to make him believe there’d been something actually there. He heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floorboards as Prompto flinched, realizing too late just how much he’d raised his voice, but there was no taking it back now. Nor did he think he wanted to. “Which means I certainly do not trust it. I realize you make it a point to be as uninformed as possible, but public opinion does not favor vampires very much these days. Even you must have noticed that. And now my privacy, my choices, perhaps even my life if the idiots in government have their way… All of it now hinges on this friend that you’re so sure will just blindly believe whatever sort of excuse you gave him. All the reassurances in the world aren’t going to change that."

And that was the crux of it, he realized. There were some few others who knew, of course. Gladio and his family, people he trusted implicitly, and a few people who were paid and paid well for their silence. He’d thought Prompto to be among the latter, and perhaps he’d moved into the former without Ignis realizing.

Silence fell over the kitchen then, his outburst having cooled his immediate anger but left a simmering ember of something darker in its place. He’d never been one to analyze his emotions and he certainly wouldn’t start now, but this on top of the last few days made him want to lash out, to hurt something, and the only available something was Prompto. 

Prompto who seemed to have lost track of his incessant stream of words for once. A mixed blessing, at best. When the words did come, they sounded very small. "I-I... I made a mistake. Ignis, I'm sorry."

Guilt attempted to worm its way in on top of the worry and betrayal. Ignis refused to let it, but he could feel the situation slipping further out of his control by the moment. He took a deep breath, letting it out on a frustrated sigh. “Indeed. Perhaps we both did.” He turned to see Prompto wince, needing the validation that he did matter at least enough to hurt Prompto in return. He wasn’t disappointed, at least not anymore than he already was.

“That’s not… what I…”

“No, but it is exactly how I meant it.” His voice was sharp, brooking no argument, even if Prompto seemed unlikely to give him one. He turned away again, searching for the mental thrill of victory or satisfaction that would usually follow so thoroughly putting someone in their place, but found none of it. It soured his anger in his throat. “Right now, you should go.”

"Are-" There was the sound of Prompto clearing his throat, then nothing for a moment longer. "Yeah. Okay. Um. I'll... see you?"

He didn’t know the answer to that question, so he wasn’t going to answer it. He kept his gaze resolutely on the wall ahead of him, fingers tightening on the countertop as he listened and waited. He heard Prompto stand, feet shuffling in a way that Ignis knew meant he had something to say, but nothing came. 

When the door shut behind Prompto some moments later, it pulled painfully on a part of him Ignis couldn’t quite pinpoint. He resisted the impulse to go after Prompto, to apologize for things he surely had no need to apologize for. Another moment passed… and another… and finally Ignis forced himself out of the kitchen, leaving the dishes half-cleaned, to stare blankly at his living room, instead. The sour taste of his mood lingered in his mouth.

Had he been too harsh? Not harsh enough? Should he have better explained his fear or would it have even mattered now that Prompto had already broken his trust? 

The apartment felt oppressively quiet and empty. Turning on the television was a poor substitute, but he found he very much did not want to be alone despite what he’d said to Prompto. An arguing panel of political hangers-on appeared on the screen, making him change the channel in a flurry of irritation. The last thing he needed was yet another reminder of how tenuous his situation now was.

In the morning, he would call Gladio, consider his options. Things generally looked better after a good night’s rest. Even if he had a feeling he wouldn’t be resting well for the foreseeable future, for more reasons than one.


	16. Chapter 16

It would be super overdramatic to say that the week since Noct had figured out his secret had been the worst week of Prompto’s life so far, but sometimes Prompto’s inner drama queen had the right idea. First the fear and disappointment in himself, now the… the whatever he’d felt since Ignis had unceremoniously kicked him out. It was a lot, maybe too much, and it all sucked, every last bit of it. 

Plus there was the part where it was all his fault. That sucked, too.

He didn’t search out Luna’s company directly very often. Not deliberately, really, he’d just never quite managed to shake the feeling that he was just a bother to someone like her, in her pristine home, with its perfect decor and perfect location and perfect owner and perfect everything. Even her dogs, he was pretty sure, were perfect. Noct was Noct, it was easy to just fit himself into the uncontrolled chaos of Noct’s life, but ever since they were kids, he’d always felt that maybe Luna was just a little too good for someone like him.

Okay, maybe that was the inner drama queen talking, too, but it was taking him a lot more than his usual five minutes to psych himself up into pushing the button for her to buzz him in. His phone beeped a notification in his pocket. He fished it out. 

A text. From… Luna?

_ Did you want to come in or were you going to stay down there today? _

She was so totally psychic sometimes.

His phone dinged again.  _ I’m not psychic. Pryna saw you coming and has been barking at the window for the last five minutes. _

The door in front of him made an angry noise as it unlocked. Oh. 

He knew, from anxious experience, that the door would relock itself if he didn’t get a move on, and calling Luna to have her buzz him in again seemed both excessive and embarrassing, so he grabbed the door handle and pulled despite feeling anything but ready to go up.

Inside was warmly lit and full of plant life. Prompto once swore he saw some kind of squirrel in here, even, though no one had ever believed him. Even the elevator had plants in it, tiny succulents growing out of wall sconces like very strange medieval torches. He poked one and yelped, snatching his hand back. A needle stuck out of the tip of his finger. Of course.

The elevator door opened quietly while he was still sucking at his new war wound and he didn’t bother to stop until he stood at Luna’s door. It was already cracked open. A black nose appeared at the crack, followed by frantic sniffing and the nose nudging the door open to reveal a fluffy white head. He smiled. “Hey, Pryna.”

She responded with a happy bark and all but launching herself at him right in the doorway, making him catch the doorframe to stay upright. He laughed, feeling a little better already. If a dog as wonderful as Pryna still loved him, the world couldn’t be all bad, right?

“If you just wanted to borrow my dog, you could have said so.” He jumped, Pryna finally succeeding at making them both crash to the floor, as Luna interrupted them. Pryna licked his face enthusiastically while Luna stood at the door, smiling down at them. “Or you could come in. If you want.”

“Sure, easy for you to say.” Withstanding Pryna’s enthusiasm had been a lot easier when she was a lot smaller. Somehow he managed to sit up, and then with Luna’s help regained his feet, Pryna bounding around both of them as they finally made it into the apartment. 

Umbra lifted his head from Luna’s couch just long enough to huff at him before going back to his nap. 

“Come to the kitchen. I was just about to make some tea.” Luna beckoned for him to follow, and who was he to say no?

Pryna followed as far the door to the kitchen, flopping down there like some sort of breathing throw rug, and Prompto settled himself at the kitchen table, long experience keeping him from offering to help with the tea. Luna wouldn’t accept, and any tea he made would be at least three times less appealing, anyway.

She hadn’t been kidding about the tea, either. On the stove, an ancient and well-loved teapot was just beginning to whistle. It was out of place in the expensive and up-to-date kitchen but in a comfortable sort of way, like it not matching didn’t matter much at all.

His fingers tapped a mindless tune on the tabletop, thoughts wandering, considering the meaning of life for kitchen utensils, until a cup magically appeared before him. 

Or maybe Luna put it there, and he was just paying that little attention. He coughed, mumbling his thanks, and she smiled at him over the rim of her own cup. “You’re very welcome. Now, did you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

He choked on his tea, putting the cup down quickly before he dropped it entirely. “W-what?”

“Prompto.” She put her own cup down as well, and that was when he knew he was doomed to a Serious Talk. And yes, sure, he’d come here for a talk, but not a Talk. Too late now. Luna reached across the table to lay a hand over his. “Noct may have shared a few things with me that had him very worried, and I’ve noticed you being more withdrawn than usual the last few days, as well. I promise nothing you tell me will leave this room.”

“Like how Noct kept it to himself so well?” He didn’t mean to snap at her, not at all, but the fact that she knew what he’d told Noct felt like an extra failure after his argument with Ignis. Some secret keeper he’d turned out to be. 

Luna didn’t answer at first, turning her cup idly on its saucer. “Noctis is… very bad at worrying about people. Not that I need to tell you that.” She graced him with a brief smile. “But he often shares his thoughts with me because then he knows he doesn’t have to worry alone and chance ruining something unintentionally. I know he does the same with you.”

True, he did. It didn’t make Prompto feel much better. “I guess.”

She pressed on like he hadn’t answered. “So you know how worried he must have been to tell me what he learned from you. I’d still rather hear it from you directly. And what happened to make you so unhappy since.”

Why did she have to make so much sense all the time? It was impossible to stay mad at her, even harder than it was to stay mad at Noct. “He really told you about…?”

Her eyes glanced pointedly at his covered wrist, and he hid it beneath the table. “He told me the highlights, yes.”

His shoulders slumped. He was already screwed, so what more would it hurt? “I mean… I guess, long story short, I got a job as a personal blood bank for a vampire, and I guess it’s kind of illegal, and then Noct found out, and we had a fight, and it sucked, and now I’m here.”

“You and Noct had a fight?” Her voice was doing that thing that made her sound like she was talking to a nervous woodland creature instead of a person, and he’d be more offended if it didn’t sort of match how he felt right now.

“No. I mean, yes, we did, sorta, but no, me and th-the vampire.” It felt so weird to call Ignis that. It felt weird to talk about this at all, but that was like Luna’s superpower or something, getting people to talk about things they didn’t really want to talk about. Except he had wanted to talk about it, at least a little, hadn’t he? Or he wouldn’t be here. “I just felt so guilty, so I told him about Noct finding out, and he was super upset, and I don’t blame him, but I…” He blushed miserably, dropping his head onto the table. This was the worst, most embarrassing part, and he didn’t know if he could even tell Luna.

He felt Pryna’s wet nose press in under his arm and sat up reflexively to pet her. That meant leaving himself open to accidentally catching Luna’s eye. He almost flinched when he did, immediately looking back at his lap and Pryna. Pryna was safe.

“...Oh, Prompto.” She sounded like she actually understood. Everything, too, not just the things he’d managed to say. “Will you tell me the rest?”

What if he didn’t want to tell her the rest? She probably already knew, anyway. Noct had figured it out, and Noct wasn’t half as perceptive as Luna. He sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“No such thing. Feelings may be many things, including ill-advised or even reckless, but they’re never stupid.” 

She sounded so sure of it, too. He glanced up, catching her eye finally, and sniffling a little, embarrassingly. “I, um.” And he looked away again, unable to stand looking at her. “I maybe… um… kind of…”

Finally, she took pity on him. “It most certainly isn’t stupid to love someone.”

“Love?!” His head shot up, eyes wide with surprise. “I don’t- I mean- What?!”

She stood, coming around the table to sit next to him instead and taking his hand in both of hers. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“...I like him.” Like was a lot safer than love, especially when he was pretty sure it’d never been returned before and definitely wasn’t going to be returned now. 

“Fine.” He could tell from her tone that she was only humoring him, but he’d take it. “It isn’t stupid to ‘like’ someone, either. Not even in less than perfect situations like this.” 

“It feels stupid.” He knew he was being petulant. He didn’t care.

One of her hands released his to comb through his hair instead. “That would be your heart trying to protect itself at the expense of the rest of you. It’s not very fair of it, but it is understandable. Now go back and tell me exactly what he said so I can help.”

It was why he was there, wasn’t it? Getting Luna’s help? With another sniffle, he went back to the beginning, recounting the argument as well as he remembered it, right up to Ignis telling him to leave. It was even harder than he’d expected. 

Next to him, Luna sat quietly, lost in her own thoughts, until she sighed and leaned over to him, kissing his forehead gently before cupping his cheeks with her hands to make him look up at her. “Just to be clear, I love you. Noctis loves you. That hasn’t changed.”

He sighed. “I know. Thanks, Luna.”

“Well, I am pretty amazing.” It got the chuckle out of him that she was aiming for. “Better. My Prompto should never be so sad.” And the blush she was aiming for, as well. “Now, then. Since that’s settled, how are you planning on fixing it?”

“I really don’t think this is something that gets fixed.” And how that hurt to say out loud, but he just couldn’t see how Ignis would even talk to him again, let alone give him time to fix anything.

“Nonsense.” She sounded so sure of herself, Prompto even almost believed her. “I think he’s very hurt, and I think you did betray his trust, and I think you do have quite a bit to apologize for, but… well, trust me. Consider it a feeling.”

He glanced at her, suspiciously, but her face was as serene as ever. “You’re cheating, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She went back to combing fingers through his hair, which was also cheating, but different. He approved of that cheating, even when he knew it was being used against him.

“Yes, you do. Cheater.” He sighed. “Seriously, Luna, I just don’t think he’s gonna forgive me.”

“Why don’t you let him decide that? For all that you did make a mistake, none of what you did was done maliciously or with intent to cause any harm. If he’s a good enough person to make you feel this strongly, I think he’ll take that into consideration.”

He sighed yet again, feeling a bit like a leaky balloon. “I don’t know.”

“Let’s think of this logically, then. If he truly wanted nothing else to do with you, wouldn’t he have used that contract you signed by now?”

Well… he had been wondering about that, actually. Now that she mentioned it. He’d woken up in a cold sweat a few times, expecting a knock on the door with cops coming to arrest him or whatever would happen if Ignis turned him in or something. He didn’t really know, but he figured it would be super bad. Nothing super bad had happened yet, though, except his heart fizzling away into painful little piles of dust blowing around in his ribcage. “I guess?”

“So.” She sounded less like she was talking to a wild animal now and more like she was a teacher talking to an unruly student who refused to see the answer to 1+1=2. “Perhaps he isn’t quite sure where to go from here, either. The two of you could work it out together.”

“You really think so?”

She booped his nose and he frowned, leaning away from her, hands covering his nose protectively. She laughed at him. “Better. And yes, I do think so. But you’ll have to try. Promise me you’ll try?”

Sometimes Luna was kind of scary, in that ‘maybe psychic and all knowing’ sort of way. Still, he nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll try. At least, I’ll try to try. Trying sounds kind of hard.”

She laughed at him again, pulling him into a hug while Pryna, recognizing the lifting mood, barked at them happily. 

They talked for a while longer, Luna making him drink two more cups of tea before she was satisfied that he was feeling well enough to be allowed to go home. And he did, when he left her apartment. He did for most of the elevator ride down. But by the time he was heading out onto the sidewalk, his mind was filled with too many thoughts to think all at once again. What if Luna was right? What if she was wrong? What if it was too soon? Or too late? What if-

He groaned loudly, kicking at a rock and getting a odd looks from a couple across the street. He didn’t want to just stand here, because Luna would come get him if he did. He didn’t want to go home and think a million thoughts alone in his apartment. There weren’t a lot of options in the middle. Maybe a run would at least clear his mind. A normal person would at least go home first, but this was Prompto. No one was expecting him. He wasn’t really dressed for a run, but he’d never let that stop him before. He also wasn’t that familiar with Luna’s neighborhood, but he’d only rarely let that stop him, either. It was a nice night and worse case scenario, he had his phone to call for a cab.

Having convinced himself, for better or worse, he picked a random direction and set off, pulling out his phone to queue up his jogging playlist. He didn’t bring his earphones, so the music echoed through the somewhat empty streets, the neighborhood far too posh to have many people out and about as the sun began to set. 

Half an hour later, he staggered to a stop, pulling his phone out of his pocket to switch away from a song that grated on him in all the wrong ways tonight. A storefront caught his attention, a little boutique bakery tucked away between two glass and steel apartment complexes. With a start, he realized he recognized that bakery. He’d even gotten a pastry from it exactly once when he’d been way too early to a meeting with Ignis and had wandered the neighborhood to kill time. It had been delicious, but overpriced by enough that he’d never felt the need to get another.

But that meant…

He wandered down the next block, gripping his phone tightly in his pocket to keep his fingers from shaking. And there, around the corner… He’d never realized Luna lived quite that close to Ignis, but why would he have bothered to think about it?

Without conscious direction, he turned on his heel, feet taking him the opposite way down the street. He shouldn’t be here. What if… what if something. What if…

How are you planning on fixing it?

The memory of Luna’s words stopped him in his tracks. How…

But it wasn’t anything he could fix. He’d ruined it just fine, but you couldn’t just say sorry about that kind of thing. Could you?

He realized he’d stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk, phone clutched in both hands in front of his chest. He looked down at it. Swiped to unlock it. Stared at his home screen, thumb hovering over the phone app, but eventually chickening out and pressing the text app instead.

There weren’t that many contacts there. Noct and Luna. His parents. A couple other ex-coworkers and acquaintances that he’d had a reason to text at one time or another. And Ignis. 

And he was stalling. 

His thumb stabbed Ignis’ name before he could think better of it. The last thing he’d sent, more than a week ago, had been a ridiculous selfie. He couldn’t even remember why he’d sent that now, except it had seemed so easy at the time. Now, he struggled to find the words to even start something that might be a conversation. The words to fix… everything.

_ Hey. Guess who?  _ He quickly erased that.  _ Hey, Ignis. It’s me. Prompto. Duh, right? _

A moment went by and he became certain Ignis would never answer something that stupid.  _ I just wanted to say I’m sorry. So sorry. I should have been more careful but I wasn’t and you were right to be upset but I miss you way more than I probably should and that’s kind of stupid but yeah that’s me stupid right. Sorry. _

He hit send and immediately regretted it. When no answer came for a minute, then two, he started walking again, picking a random direction without watching where he was going. Luckily by now the streets were completely empty of other pedestrians, the sounds of traffic and wind the only things to keep him company as he walked.

Five minutes later, heart sunk well below his stomach, he’d very nearly given up when his phone finally chimed. He stared at it, a full thirty seconds going by before he forced himself to open the message.

_ You aren’t stupid. _ While he was reading, a second message followed the first.  _ Your punctuation, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. _

Prompto burst out laughing, glad that Ignis couldn’t see him as he felt himself tear up. He was pretty sure there were lines and lines to read between, but frankly, he was just thrilled Ignis had answered and not told him to get lost.

Which… actually, maybe he had. Gotten lost, that was. But it was fine. He had his phone.  _ Yeah, well, you know me. I sorta ended up in your neighborhood, on accident I promise! But I was wondering if maybe I could come up while I’m here? _

A strange feeling made him look up, but the sidewalk remained empty around him, the occasional car or truck whisking by on the street casting strange shadows between the buildings. He shook his head, ignoring it as Ignis responded again.  _ I am home, if you wish to come up. _

Not the enthusiastic response he’d wanted, but not the automatic dismissal he’d feared, either.  _ Great! I’m kind of turned around, but I’m pretty sure you’re back this way! Be there in two shakes! _

It took a bit longer, maybe five shakes, before he figured out a direction he thought was right, down a smaller side street. The feeling came again and he almost ignored it, but something felt even more wrong than before and he sped up his pace. A streetlight was out up ahead, which seemed so out of place in a neighborhood like this. Even the traffic seemed to have dried up.

A loud sound erupted out of a trashcan next to him and Prompto shrieked, only to come face-to-face with a large tabby cat, looking at him like even the cat couldn’t believe he’d be so stupid as to be so scared of a freaking cat. He laughed abruptly. This was why he didn’t go to horror movies.

Still, something forced his hand to his phone again, pace not slowing.  _ I keep thinking something’s following me. Funny, huh? _

He was squarely under the burnt out streetlight now, the brighter glow from the main street behind just a few steps away when someone came around the corner in his direction, making him jump. He laughed again, about to apologize for overreacting when a strange glinting caught his eye, bright white in the gloom. 

Fangs. Vampire fangs.

The vampire smiled at him, the expression nothing pleasant.

Prompto turned and ran, phone dropping from his hand as he tripped on nothing. He had no time to grab it before the vampire reappeared in front of him. He’d never even heard it move. A small stone dug into his hand as he pushed up to his feet and he kept hold of it, half-turning to fling it at the creature advancing on him without stopping to aim. Its angry hiss was the only confirmation he needed that his aim was on and he skidded down another cross street.

This was it. That was all he could think as he ran: this was it, and no one would ever know.


	17. Chapter 17

Ignis had been, perhaps understandably, rather distracted the last few days, and he’d been a bit slower than usual to replenish his frozen blood supply, something he’d rather hoped he wouldn’t be doing anymore. Unfortunately, many things seemed to be going against his wishes lately. 

Regardless, that meant he was at least hungry enough to barely taste the blood as he polished off a second bag and found himself suddenly and painfully at loose ends. He had work he could do, of course, although none of it was anything approaching urgent, and none of the other ways he would usually occupy his limited free time held their usual luster. He’d begun to read the news, but the front page headline was a quote from some idiot in government or another about the ‘crisis’ facing the nation. Some racial council was protesting, some racial council was always protesting, but a number of quarantine laws were being fast tracked in spite of this opposition and public opinion seemed largely in favor. The many outweighing the few, he supposed, but being one of the few, that was cold comfort.  

His phone buzzing with a text message had him reaching for it depressingly quickly, although he quickly tamped down his reaction. Perhaps it was someone from the office, needing something researched ASAP. Or perhaps Gladio, thinking to tease him yet again about one or another of his poor life choices. He could certainly stand a good fight at the moment.

The last name he expected to see was Prompto’s.

He very nearly cleared the notification without even reading the text, but a second followed quickly on the first, and surely there could be no harm in looking. At the worst, it would waste his time, and he’d been looking for a way to do exactly that, in any case.

_ Hey, Ignis. It’s me. Prompto. Duh, right? _

_ I just wanted to say I’m sorry. So sorry. I should have been more careful but I wasn’t and you were right to be upset but I miss you way more than I probably should and that’s kind of stupid but yeah that’s me stupid right. Sorry. _

He very nearly closed it again. He’d come to terms, barely, with the fact that the vast majority of his upset came from the fact that Prompto would break his trust and then try to hide it, however ineffectually. He wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to forgive and forget, as it were, although… he found himself strangely certain that he did want to forgive. Eventually. But Prompto was reaching out now, and he’d come to understand that sometimes opportunities presented themselves before you realized you wanted them.

Some minutes still passed before he decided both that he did want to answer and what he wanted to say. _ You aren’t stupid.  _ Or perhaps they were both stupid. Ignis shook his head before his thoughts could wander too far and quickly tapped out another reply _. Your punctuation, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. _

It was only after he’d sent the message that he realized how easy it would be for Prompto to take that as an insult rather than the attempt at humor Ignis had intended it to be. Should he clarify as much? Should he apologize? Should he go back to not answering and leave well enough alone?

His phone announced another message and he pulled it up distressingly quickly this time. _ Yeah, well, you know me. I sorta ended up in your neighborhood, on accident I promise! But I was wondering if maybe I could come up while I’m here? _

It was far too soon to want to see Prompto after everything; Ignis rather prided himself on not being quick to forgive. And yet, that wasn’t the answer he found himself giving. They had so many things to talk about, most of them unpleasant, but he surprised himself by very much wanting to have that talk. He considered his words carefully, settling on as neutral a wording as he could find, not wishing to give either of them a false impression _. I am home, if you wish to come up. _

_ Great! I’m kind of turned around, but I’m pretty sure you’re back this way! Be there in two shakes!  _ The answer was, if anything, even quicker that time, and Ignis found he could clearly picture Prompto, phone in hand, awaiting his replies. It was… heartening. It also made him feel exceedingly selfish, enjoying Prompto’s immediate replies while he held himself back. He would remedy that when Prompto got to his apartment.

To think, he’d never thought to have Prompto in his apartment again. Ignis smiled and shook his head at how easily Prompto seemed to bounce back once he thought things were less tense between them. Though given how much lighter he felt, maybe he didn’t have any room to talk. 

He set about straightening up to kill the time, his apartment already beyond tidy. It worked only partially, his eyes continually straying to the clock, wondering what exact length of time ‘two shakes’ entailed. Another message arriving caught him off guard. Was Prompto having trouble getting into the building? 

_ I keep thinking something’s following me. Funny, huh? _

He stared at the text then strode to the window but the quickly darkening street was empty of anyone who looked like Prompto. He was probably overreacting. They were both probably overreacting. He attempted to put it out of his mind, which lasted all of thirty seconds. Prompto was a nervous sort, as Ignis had seen first hand more than once. And yet… 

He gave in, pressing the call button next to Prompto’s name, listening to it ring far longer than it had any right to when Prompto had been answering his texts so quickly. He hung up halfway through Prompto’s voice telling him to leave a message and tried again. Still nothing.

Repeating the cycle of calling, hanging up, and calling once again was most definitely overreacting, but Ignis did it anyway, shoving his feet into the first available pair of shoes he could find and grabbing his keys before bolting out the door. 

What little patience Ignis had managed to cling to evaporated in the wait for the elevator, and only the fact that he couldn’t afford to wind himself going down a dozen flights of stairs convinced him to wait that long. He thought Belua might have called out to him on his rush past, but he wasn’t going to lower his phone from his ear to find out, and he certainly wasn’t going to stop long enough to address the man. 

It was only when his feet hit the pavement just outside his building that Ignis realized he had no idea just where Prompto might be. Close to Ignis’ apartment was a vague descriptor at best, and the fact that Prompto still hadn’t picked up his phone meant he wasn’t going to get any closer to pinpointing him. 

He took a chance, ending his most recent call to open the Visage application on his phone and finding Prompto’s still unlocked profile. No luck there; it seemed as though Prompto had been significantly less active the past few weeks. Somehow Ignis couldn’t shake the idea that he was the reason why, and he cursed himself for it now. 

Moogle, perhaps; surely other people had searched for a method to track someone using their phone before? He didn’t let himself think about why someone might do such a thing, skimming impatiently past results that promised him a lead on a cheating significant other until something useful caught his eye. He just hoped Prompto hadn’t taken Ignis’ comments about protecting his privacy so closely as to block geotagging on his SMS messages. If–when–Ignis found him, they’d have a talk about that. 

It would be when. It had to be when.

The seconds it took for the geotag mapping application to download seemed interminably long, and Ignis gritted his teeth while he fumbled through the menus, taking off the second he’d managed to orient himself to his current position versus where Prompto’s phone, and hopefully Prompto, were supposedly located. Once he was certain he was getting close he switched back to calling, listening intently for the sound of Prompto’s ringtone. The entire process from Prompto’s last text couldn’t have been more than ten minutes and yet it felt like an eternity. 

He finally caught the muffled sound of Prompto’s usually annoying ringtone near a side street, nearly hidden in the darkness of a broken streetlight. Usually annoying, and yet Ignis wasn’t sure he’d ever heard a sweeter sound. He stooped to pick up the phone, glaring at the shattered screen like this was somehow all its fault.

Another sound down the side street had him back on his feet in a moment. Something that sounded like that was certainly not Prompto, though, and it was followed by the angry screech of something sharp on unyielding metal. Ignis turned the corner and froze despite himself.

Although he’d never seen one, he had no doubt what he was looking at. The infected vampire looked like it could have stepped directly out of the awful movies Prompto was so fond of, and the eyes that lighted on Ignis as he skidded to a halt were bright with sickness and bloodlust. It left off frantically clawing at a large, metal dumpster as it rounded on Ignis instead. There was no smell of human blood, which was a small comfort, but not enough of one when he couldn’t immediately see Prompto and couldn’t afford to turn away from the danger in front of him.

A guttural snarl was his only warning before the other vampire was rushing forward, clearly determined to defend its claim, and Ignis barely managed to twist himself out of the way as claws raked the air where his face had been a moment before. A secondary terror filled his mind, not for Prompto but for himself. So little was known… even a scratch… It wasn’t much of a fight, Ignis much more concerned with dodging than attempting an attack of his own, but the other vampire seemed tireless, driven by urges Ignis had no time to think about.

There was the briefest sound, something that might have been Ignis’ name, and the other turned, hardly seeming to move before it was beside the dumpster again. A flash of movement from something, someone else, and it was like an instinct Ignis had never felt again turned on. He threw himself forward to tackle the infected vampire to the ground, mundane worries forgotten in a haze of what he would later consider madness. The world had gone strange, misty and red and far away, and there were more sounds, fainter now, of what sounded like beasts in his ears, snarling and screeching with anger and pain. Under his grasping hands something crunched, oddly final, and Ignis…

Ignis gasped, pushing himself to his feet and away from the unidentifiable creature now limp below him. He stumbled to a stop as the shades of red faded from his vision. Other things returned with his senses, too, other concerns that had seemed so unimportant in the moment. He hurriedly wiped his face, careful to use an unbloodied part of his sleeve. Just in case.

At which point he realized the street was suspiciously quiet, even for such a late evening in such a regularly quiet community. Once more, his own concerns fled his mind. “Prompto?!” What if he’d been too late? What if-

“I-I’m right here.” The voice was weak, would have been too quiet for anything but supernatural hearing, but Ignis focused in on it in a moment, finding Prompto curled up out of the way of the fight, pressed against a wall. He  was staring at Ignis’ hands like it was the first time he'd seen them. Or, more accurately perhaps, the first time he'd seen any part of Ignis anything but perfectly groomed. 

Ignis wiped the blood off on his slacks, past caring. If anyone saw them, he’d think of something. "Prompto?"

“...Holy shit.”

Not the response he was expecting. He dropped to one knee, being careful not to crowd too closely too quickly, in case Prompto would prefer his space after such a display. Visually checking Prompto for wounds revealed nothing, but he had to be sure. “Prompto. I need you to tell me if you’ve been injured.”   
  
“Holy shit, dude.”

“Yes, you said that already.” He didn’t sound overly upset, but that could very well be shock. Ignis supposed that fight should have shocked anyone. Perhaps he was the one reacting unnaturally. He took Prompto’s shoulders carefully, giving him just enough of a shake to make Prompto’s eyes meet his. “Are you all right?”

Prompto nodded jerkily, his mouth working like too many words wanted to escape at once until nothing could. Finally, he managed, “Iggy… you’re badass.”

The words were so incongruous, so unexpected, that it was like they broke some sort of hidden dam inside Ignis. He couldn’t help but laugh, the sound nothing like his usual controlled chuckle, as he pulled Prompto into a tight embrace, decorum be damned. Decorum was for people who hadn’t almost lost… almost lost…

Well, for people who hadn’t almost lost Prompto.

Reluctantly, after a moment he pulled back, urging Prompto to his feet. “Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible chapter title: Wherein something exciting finally happens. Badass Iggy's the best Iggy, don't you agree?


	18. Chapter 18

The trip back to Ignis’ apartment was an adrenaline-fueled blur. Prompto leaned heavily on Ignis, the occasional frantic giggle escaping every time he remembered exactly how close he’d been to never going anywhere again. By the time they were in the elevator, Ignis’ lobby thankfully fully secured and lacking a live guard at this time of the evening, Ignis was all but holding him up, an arm wrapped securely around Prompto’s waist.

He rubbed at his forehead, willing himself to stand up on his own. His body stayed traitorously right where it was. “Sorry about all this. I-”

“Hush. None of that. I’m… very glad I was there.”

It made him smile, probably a pretty stupid smile if it looked as stupid as it felt. “You’re telling me.”

“In fact, I am.” The elevator dinged and Ignis ushered him down the hallway and to the door into his apartment. Then he stopped, hand an inch from his door. Most of the blood had dried or been wiped off, but just enough was still there, in the lines of his skin and under his fingernails. Prompto tried to lean away to get a look at his face, but Ignis shook himself back into motion before he could. “Well, I’ll need to do something about that sooner than later. At least I left the lights on.”

He’d left everything on, from what Prompto could tell, and that was pretty much the opposite of an Ignis-y thing to do. It made something small and painful flare in his chest and he found himself sniffling in response without meaning to.

Ignis’ arm around him went tense and for a moment, he thought Ignis would pull away, but then they just continued into the hallway to Ignis’ bedroom and bathroom and Prompto honestly didn’t even know what all rooms there might be down there. He’d never set foot past the living room before. “We’ll both need to get cleaned up. I don’t think I have anything that will fit you, unfortunately, but you can’t wear what you have on.”

He couldn’t? Prompto looked down at himself. His pants were… okay, his pants were gross, that was definitely true, covered in mysterious something from being on the ground in that alley. His shirt had been fine, but the blood on Ignis’ hands evidently hadn’t all been dry before Ignis helped him up. “Not my favorite, so it’s okay.”

Another of those tense pauses that Prompto couldn’t quite decipher and Ignis was herding him into what was probably the apartment’s guest bathroom. It was still bigger than Prompto’s kitchen. “Go ahead and shower. Soap and shampoo are there. Once I get a bit cleaned up myself, I’ll bring you a change of clothes. Will you…” Ignis stopped himself and Prompto looked up in time to catch a strange look pass over his face. “Do you need anything?”

Honestly, another hug would be pretty nice, but he doubted that was what Ignis meant. Probably. Maybe. Hell, he didn’t know anymore. Right now, he shook his head. 

The door closed behind Ignis and Prompto found himself alone in the bathroom. He set about emptying his pockets just to keep moving, because he knew if he stopped moving now, he was going to stay stopped. Keys. Wallet. No phone. He swore, vaguely remembering dropping it but having no clue where it was now. 

And his clothes… He left them in a pile on the floor, not knowing what else to do with them. Would Ignis let him use his washing machine? A place like this, he had to have his own washing machine, right? 

Which just left getting in the shower. That, at least, was large but not intimidatingly so. The water came out of the tap immediately warm and inviting. His building’s ancient water heater would have taken a full minute to even reach lukewarm, and that was if no one else had recently needed it. It was probably ridiculous, but even that tiny luxury had him sniffling again, feeling like an idiot crying for no reason. Feeling like an idiot didn’t stop the sniffling from becoming hiccups and then whimpers that he bit down on his hand to muffle. He didn’t even know if he was sad or happy.

A knock followed by the door opening had him scrubbing at his face. How long had he just been standing there, leaning against the tile? The water hadn’t gone cold, but he wondered if that even meant anything in a place this nice. 

“Prompto?” Ignis’ voice was distorted and muffled by the water, but Prompto thought he sounded concerned. He struggled to calm his breathing, pressing the heels of his palms hard into his eyes until they burned. “I’ve brought you a change of clothes. They’re here on the counter. Leave your others where they are and I’ll deal with them in the morning. I’m…” Yet another pause. Prompto knew he was missing something, but he didn’t even know where to begin to find it. “I’ll just be in the other bathroom. Help yourself to anything in the apartment if you want.”

The door closed behind him and Prompto stepped out of the spray to press his forehead against the tile where it was still somewhat cooler. He didn’t feel like crying anymore, but where that tangle of emotions had been was now just a strange emptiness. He rubbed at his chest, quickly turning the shower off. He felt no better than when he’d gotten in.

Five minutes later, hair still dripping onto the towel around his shoulders and the drawstring on Ignis’ sweatpants pulled as tight as it would go, he padded barefoot into the living room. Who knew Ignis even had sweatpants? He could hear water running elsewhere in the apartment which must be the other bathroom Ignis mentioned. 

The living room was strangely quiet. Ignis had hidden the TV away again at some point since they’d gotten back, and despite Ignis’ offer, Prompto found himself not wanting to turn it back on. The idea of getting anything to eat or drink was equally unappealing, so he sat on the couch and listened to the water running, pulling his feet up in front of him as he sank into the cushions. 

For a moment, he sat in silence, just staring up at the ceiling, until another of those manic giggles overtook him. He pressed a hand to his mouth, trying and failing to stop. He was pretty sure he’d had every emotion known to man at some point today, and apparently now he was having at least half of them all at once.

He buried his face in his knees as the laughter turned to gasps, his lungs not wanting to take in enough air. He’d felt so much better after his talk with Luna, and then the fact that Ignis actually answered his texts, but then the… the…

And then Ignis. Just… Ignis. Everything Ignis. 

Ignis who’d probably still been mad at him, who definitely had no reason not to be mad, but who’d saved him despite it all. Ignis who’d hugged him like he’d been actually scared. Ignis who…

Shit, Luna was right.

Ignis who, Prompto was increasingly certain, he’d fallen a little past ‘in like’ with. And if he’d had no idea how to fix things before, he definitely didn’t now. Maybe… Maybe they’d just fix themselves?

He hadn’t heard the water turn off, but he heard the footsteps coming down the hallway. He sat up abruptly, heart hammering away in his chest again, only to catch Ignis’ eye as Ignis froze in the entrance to the hallway, expression concerned. “Is everything… No, that’s an amazingly stupid question, isn’t it. Everything is certainly not all right.”

Luna was so far past right. Prompto’s heart slowed down, only to promptly try to crawl into his throat. He buried his face again before it could try more obviously. “Little bit, but I’m mostly okay, I think.” He sniffed, betraying his own point. “Thanks to you.”

Ignis finally came farther into the room, the sound of his footsteps moving away toward the kitchen briefly and then back. “You certainly don’t need to thank me.”

“Maybe, but I want to.” He wanted to do a lot more than just that, but it was all he could manage at the moment.

A sudden, soft weight draping around his shoulders had Prompto starting so badly he nearly fell off the couch, only Ignis catching hold of his shoulder keeping him where he was. He blinked dumbly at the soft, plaid blanket now wrapped around him, then up at Ignis, who looked both uncertain and something of that indecipherable expression from earlier. “You looked cold.”

He hunched his shoulders, pulling the blanket closer. He had been a little cold, not bad, but… Ignis had noticed. A million thoughts wanted to fall out of his mouth but in the end, as always, the dumbest one won. “It’s plaid?”

Ignis didn’t release his shoulder like Prompto had expected, but he did look more confused by the moment. “...So it seems?”

Prompto blushed, ducking his head again. “You just don’t seem like a plaid kind of guy. You’re more like… solids and pinstripes and, uh…” A hand brushed over the back of his neck, so light he thought he might have imagined it. The words dried up in his throat, but for once he didn’t miss them. He peeked over the edge of his arms, watching Ignis move around his apartment, fetching a glass of water that he sat near Prompto, going back down the hallway, checking Prompto wasn’t sure what on his phone before it was left safely charging on the kitchen island. 

He didn’t realize he’d dozed off watching Ignis until that hand was on his shoulder again. He didn’t start this time, nor did he open his eyes. “Sorry. I should probably go, huh?”

“Actually.” Ignis cleared his throat, fingers tightening just slightly on Prompto’s shoulder until he seemed to realize he was doing it. “I was hoping you’d stay. We’ve both had a… rather trying evening, I think.”

Understatement of the century, and Prompto probably should have protested, probably should have said… anything, really, but all he could think about was  _ how are you going to fix it? _ and the fact that he felt safer now with Ignis right there, close enough to just lean over and touch, than he had in probably hours. Minutes? Days? Hell, he had no idea how long. It felt like forever right now.

So yeah, he had a lot of things he should have said, but the thing he did say was only, “I’d like that?”

He felt the couch move under him as Ignis joined him, still close enough to touch, the hand on his shoulder becoming an arm around his back. He hesitated, and Ignis must have sensed it because he tugged slightly, humming an invitation, until Prompto settled against his side. His shirt was soft under Prompto’s cheek. Sweatpants and soft shirts. Who knew? 

_ How are you going to fix it? _

He sighed, feeling lethargic and comfortable and still more than half asleep. He could tell he was drifting back off, soaking in Ignis’ warmth next to him, but... “Wanted to tell you-”

“In the morning will be soon enough for that.” 

Prompto felt fingers in his hair, hesitant at first but quickly settling into a rhythm. He nodded reluctantly, melting a bit more into Ignis’ side.

“Sleep, Prompto. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He tried to nod again and failed, his body refusing to respond. There was something like frustration, but then those fingers carded through his hair again, and everything faded away.


	19. Chapter 19

He’d be there when Prompto woke up and all the time in between, as well, just as promised. Ignis found sleep did not come as easily to him as it had to Prompto. Nor was he quite sure he wanted it to. He felt if he closed his eyes at the wrong moment, the world would rewrite itself around him, changing tonight’s events and not for the better.

He’d scrubbed his skin until it was red, checking for even the smallest injury, even a papercut that might have left him compromised. They knew so little about the disease plaguing the vampire population, not even how it was spread.  He felt no different, but would he even know if he did? Would the change come too quickly to notice? He hadn’t thought about it in the moment, for better or worse, but ever since they’d arrived safely back at his front door, it felt like he could think of nothing else.

Nothing beyond that and the very real danger of having lost Prompto when their last words were spoken in anger, at least. The two fears fought for space in his thoughts, preoccupying him throughout the night while Prompto slept against his side. 

He could admit that some tiny part of him was still hurt that Prompto had let his secret slip, even under duress, but the rational part of his brain pointed out that there were few people who wouldn’t have done the same. And Prompto had, as far as he could tell, done his best to mitigate the damage, such as it was. Whether that would continue to be the case, or whether it had ever been the case, he couldn’t know. That conversation had ended badly enough the first time, and now that Prompto was here next to him, he felt oddly reluctant to return to it. It left Ignis feeling oddly adrift. 

Prompto’s texts before the excitement yesterday seemed to imply that he’d been as unhappy with their brief separation as Ignis had been, and more than guilty enough that Ignis had no doubt Prompto had been telling the truth about his innocent intentions, but neither were necessarily evidence of any greater feelings. There had been whatever it was that Prompto had wanted to tell him so badly the night before, but he could hardly get his hopes up over something that would have been spoken in the aftermath of almost dying. No matter how much he might want to.

It seemed the only thing to do was to stop stalling and confess. Perhaps once he was certain he hadn’t been infected and wouldn’t be placing Prompto in even greater danger. Which was also stalling, but Ignis considered that a reasonable sort of stalling. Anyone would.

A small noise broke him out of his thoughts. Sunlight was streaming through the windows by now and he wasn’t entirely sure what time it was although ‘late’ was the obvious answer. Against his side, Prompto began to stir, groaning softly again. Ignis really shouldn’t have encouraged him to fall asleep like that, but he… well, he didn’t know what had come over him, exactly, but it had and Prompto’s neck and back were sure to be aching. Ignis knew his were. “Rejoining the land of the living?”

“I dunno, am I? Why’s it hurt?” Prompto’s voice was slurred as he finally began to blink his eyes open, glaring blearily at the world around him like it was personally responsible.

Breakfast and painkillers. Ignis hadn’t had that combination in years. He squeezed Prompto’s  shoulders before removing his arm to stand. His back cracked and popped in three separate places as he attempted to stretch it back into a proper shape. “Poor decisions were the order of the day yesterday, it seems. Nothing a good breakfast won’t fix.”

“...Huh?” 

If Prompto were even half awake at the moment, Ignis would be very surprised. “You slept on a couch last night, Prompto. Sitting up on a couch, no less. It’s hardly any surprise you’re sore this morning.”

There was no answer, and Ignis turned to look back just in time to see Prompto slide sideways into the space Ignis himself had been occupying only a few moments before. Well. That answered that, didn’t it. He’d just start breakfast and trust that to bring Prompto around again.

Breakfast proved as effective as he’d hoped, although it took fifteen minutes, a freshly brewed pot of coffee, and half a pack of bacon before he heard movement from the living room. He’d left a glass of water and a pair of pills on the kitchen island, and now he picked up a plate of pancakes and bacon and turned to find Prompto sliding onto the high stool there. “Awake this time?”

“Not really.” Prompto scrubbed at his eyes, swallowing the pills dry and ignoring the glass of water. Then he paused. “...Can I ask a really stupid question?”

Wasn’t that loaded? Ignis set the plate in front of Prompto, leaning against the island across from him. “I doubt it’s stupid, but go ahead.”

“No, it’s pretty stupid, just…” Prompto shifted on the stool, leaving Ignis a bit worried he’d tip himself right off. “Just… I didn’t dream last night, right? Guess more of a nightmare, really.”

Ah, that would have been something of a nightmare, wouldn’t it. “No, you didn’t dream it. I wasn’t sure you’d want to talk about it so early in the morning.”

“I don’t! At all.” Prompto’s grimace was pained. “Probably ever. Except, you know, to say… thanks. A lot. You… You didn’t have to-”

“I did.” His voice came out sharper than he’d meant to, but he’d had more than enough time of his own to contemplate what might have happened had he not been there to help. He certainly didn’t need Prompto thinking it was preferable. “I’m sorry, but I simply won’t allow either of us to even consider that option. I most certainly did have to.”

“O-oh.” 

It was a testament to his own, newly acknowledged weakness, that he lasted less than two seconds faced with Prompto’s chastised expression. “Here, none of that. Eat your bacon.”

Prompto glanced up at him. “Does this mean you’re not mad at me?”

“...Mad? Ah.” Well, that was the question, wasn’t it. “I’ve been asking myself that since before you texted yesterday, honestly. I don’t know.”

“Oh.” He played with his fork, drawing syrup lines across his plate. “I meant… you know, before everything kind of went pear-shaped, I was going to come up and tell you how sorry I was. Cause I… I get it, sorta. You trusted me and I was shitty and didn’t protect your trust or stuff. So. I, um. I get that. If you’re still mad, it’s okay.”

This relationship was going to be the death of him, whatever it turned into or didn’t. “That was a large part of it, yes. Anyone else, I would have cut out of my life, and happily.” He held up a hand to forestall whatever Prompto might say, watching him go a bit green around the edges. “Anyone else. With you, I find myself at an impasse.” Prompto’s expression didn’t clear and Ignis sighed, albeit fondly. “I do not want you out of my life, Prompto. I should, but I very much don’t.”

“Um.” Ignis waited patiently as Prompto worked through his words, expressions flitting briefly across his features, none quite coming to rest. “I mean, that’s good. That’s great! That’s, uh… Are you sure?”

Ignis fixed Prompto with his flattest, most unimpressed look. He should know by now that Ignis never said anything he didn’t mean.

“Right, sure. Guess that was a stupid question.” Prompto went back to drawing syrup lines. Ignis wanted to tell him to stop playing with his food, but it certainly wasn’t the time for that. Not with Prompto fidgeting increasingly sharply in his seat. “I just, um. I did want to, you know, tell you I was sorry. Like I did. And that I get why you were mad and stuff, but, um, we covered that. And… So… I just also really wanted to tell you that I think I kind of like you.” His words had picked up speed until they were running over the top of each other, leaving Ignis to parse through them as Prompto came to an abrupt halt. After a second, he cleared his throat and ground out, “And this is kind of the worst possible time for this, sorry, but screwing up helped me figure things out, and so I do. Like. A lot. Yeah.”

Well then. As Ignis deciphered all the words and place them in their proper order, he honestly wasn’t quite sure what to say. The timing was, indeed, a bit questionable, but if Prompto had intended this since before the attack, it couldn’t have been influencing him. Would things have been different if Ignis had tried harder to find a good time to talk to Prompto after his conversation with Luna? 

Was different better or worse?

Ignis turned away abruptly, attempting to school his thoughts before they ran away with him. “I believe coffee sounds good about now, doesn’t it?”

“Ignis?” Prompto sounded startled and even a little hurt. Ignis mentally kicked himself but carefully poured two cups before allowing himself to return to his side of the kitchen island. Prompto took his without looking at Ignis, chewing at his lip. “Sorry if I-”

“Let me, please.” His voice was mild, but it still cut Prompto off mid-word. “I realize this may complicate a great many things, but it’s been on my mind for some time now, as well. I wanted to be sure that you would feel no obligation to reciprocate any feelings. I trust…” He stopped himself with a self-deprecating chuckle as Prompto finally managed to look up at him. “I believe I like you, too.”

For a moment, no one said anything, then Prompto groaned loudly, hiding his face in his hand. “Shit, Iggy, you seriously couldn’t have led with that?”

“My apologies.” Perhaps, just once in a long while, he did say a few things he didn’t mean. He certainly wasn’t sorry for Prompto’s reaction. “I’ll make my confessions clearer next time.”

“Ugh. No! I mean, yes, but just!” Prompto very nearly growled. For a human, the sound wasn’t half bad. Ignis carefully refrained from saying as much, for now. “Just say ‘Hey, Prompto, I like you, too!’” He waved at Ignis with the hand not still over his eyes. “Just like that.”

“...Hey, Prompto, I like you, too.”

Prompto went suspiciously still, and Ignis supposed he probably hadn’t expected Ignis to actually follow the direction. His hand slid down his face, slowly revealing his eyes. “...You do?”

No explicit instructions this time? Ignis would do his best to be concise. “I do. And I have, for rather longer than is proper.”

“Ha, only you could make a confession sound like the fine print.” But Prompto was starting to smile again, and Ignis couldn’t make himself take offense at it.

“No purchase necessary.”

“Iggy!”

Ignis just smirked slightly over the edge of his cup, absolutely unrepentant. Prompto looked ready to throw a fork at him until he quickly thought better of it and stabbed a pancake instead.  A silence settled between them, something he would be tempted to call companionable, as he sipped at his coffee and Prompto finished his breakfast.

The best breakfast in the world couldn’t make up for all ills, though.  Last night and now this morning had now been far more exciting than anything Ignis had planned for, both physically and emotionally, and from the way Prompto’s shoulders were starting to slump as he leaned against the island, he imagined the same was true for him. Certainly neither of them had gotten much in the way of restful sleep last night. Once Prompto’s plate was clean and he had reached the point of fiddling with his cup rather than drinking from it, Ignis reached out to lay a hand over Prompto’s. The contact seemed to startle them both, but he wouldn’t take it back. “You should let me drive you home.”

Prompto blinked, coming back to himself after being lost in thought in a way Ignis would have denied being possible when they first met. Funny how admitting he’d been wrong didn’t feel so unpleasant this time. “Huh? Oh. Yeah. I... “

“I think we should… perhaps take some time to ourselves to consider all that’s come to light since last night.” He squeezed Prompto’s hand gently to forestall the protest he could already see coming. “Only for a few days. Perhaps a week. It’s been a stressful time and such decisions shouldn’t be made hastily.” He kept the rest of his reasons to himself. He could hardly hide himself away forever, nor did he want to, so a week would just have to be enough.

He watched what he could only guess were a dozen different objections, quickly formed and just as quickly discarded, flicker across Prompto’s face. He really was so amazingly expressive, something Ignis had worked for years to train out of himself. And yet, with Prompto, Ignis couldn’t imagine him being any other way. That revelation alone was, perhaps, the strangest part of this situation yet.

Finally, Prompto seemed to settle on just one argument. “But when’s the last time you ate? Won’t you, you know…” He waved the hand Ignis wasn’t holding, apparently trusting Ignis to fill in the words he was missing.

And somehow, somehow he could. “My supply of frozen blood will last more than long enough for us to decide on a path forward.”

“But you hate that stuff.”

Ignis couldn’t help chuckling. “I assure you there are far worse things than a substandard lunch.”

Prompto managed to look both dubious and worried. “Did that guy hit you harder than I thought?”

“My faculties are still fully functional, but I thank you for your concern.” He squeezed Prompto’s hand one last time before standing and collecting both cups to return them to the kitchen. He heard Prompto’s chair squeak across the floor as he stood to follow. “I just believe it’s better to be cautious than to bite off more than I can chew.” There was a telling pause and then a groan as Prompto caught up to what he’d said. Ignis smiled to himself before turning to Prompto, hands finding his shoulders and clasping them encouragingly, carefully keeping his mind away from the possibility that it could be the last time he could do so. “Now then. Shall I drive you home?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible chapter title: Everyone finally fucking admits to their dokidokis.


	20. Chapter 20

Thinking was hard. Like, not in general. Well sometimes in general. But this time specifically, thinking about Ignis and what he… felt… about Ignis was hard. Thinking and not doing anything. Things like calling or showing up unannounced or texting or standing outside his apartment with a guitar singing sappy love songs.

He didn’t think you could hear someone on the street singing sappy love songs from as high up as Ignis’ apartment was, even if Ignis had pretty great hearing. Also, he didn’t know how to play guitar. So that particular plan at least was a pretty safe no. 

And, well, the thinking itself was actually kind of super easy. He’d been thinking about Ignis all the time practically since they’d first met. He was almost a… a connoisseur of thinking about Ignis at this point. Thinking about Ignis required big words like connoisseur because Ignis was so far beyond anything else Prompto had encountered that normal, tiny words just didn’t cut it. Words like expert were for normal things, like chocobos and photography, not Ignis.

So thinking about Ignis was definitely not the problem. Thinking about his confession was a bit more awkward, but the more he thought about that, the more sure he was that it hadn’t been something he’d just said because Ignis saved him from certain doom. He’d only been brave enough to say it because Ignis saved him from certain doom, sure, but that wasn’t why he’d felt it. 

Ignis being a badass who could totally kill a monster in an alley probably without breaking a sweat was also beyond easy to think about, as long as he focused on the Ignis part and not the monster part. He was like the hero in an action movie, swooping in to save the day right as the bomb hit one second. 

Prompto could even acknowledge that, yes, he was the damsel in distress in that scenario, but he was man enough to admit that he was more of a flight than a fight sort of guy.

So yeah, okay, all of that thinking, easy. The first day, anyway. Sort of the second day, although Noct beat him three times at Zombie Shootdown IV and threatened to take him to the hospital because obviously he was dying. He somehow managed not to blurt the whole situation out then and there but if telling Noct about Ignis had been bad, he could only imagine that telling Noct about almost dying would be practically catastrophic.

The third day was torture. He took his camera out to the park, usually his favorite thing to do in the world, but every picture he took made him think about Ignis even more. The landscapes made him think of Ignis. The happy couples, definitely Ignis.

Basically, Ignis as far as the eye could see.

He caved on the fourth day, which he rationalized to himself as being over half a week and therefore definitely probably good enough.

What possessed him to call rather than text, he couldn’t say, but it was practically the middle of the day. He figured he’d maybe get Ignis’ voicemail and he could figure out where to go from there.

Ignis picked up on the second ring. “Prompto? Is everything okay?”

Right. The last time Prompto had contacted Ignis, it had been under maybe less than perfect circumstances. He’d just been respecting Ignis asking for space in the meantime, but… he probably should have thought that through. “No! I mean, yes, everything’s fine! I’m great! Are you great?”

Oh Six.

He heard Ignis chuckle, a chair shifting, a door being closed. “I don’t know if I’d say I was ‘great,’ per se, but I am good, yes.”

“That’s good.” He’d gone out again today and made it as far as a park bench before dialing Ignis. He watched a girl playing fetch with her dog, trying not to blurt out anything too stupid. Again. “Yep. Um.”

He struggled for something normal to say before Ignis took pity on him. More or less. “You lasted a full day longer than I thought you would, you know? I’m impressed.”

His cheeks colored despite knowing Ignis couldn’t see him. “You said ‘a few days, maybe a week.’ And you could have called, too.”

“I could have.” Ignis voice was teasing. “I would have if I hadn’t heard from you by tomorrow.”

“What?!” He groaned plaintively. One day. He’d jumped the gun by one day!

“It’s fine, Prompto. I promise.” The hint of teasing was still there, but his voice was warmer, like he knew Prompto was about two badly phrased word explosions away from a complete meltdown. “I’m glad you called.”

“Oh.” He coughed a little, toeing at a funny-shaped rock on the path at his feet. “I am, um. I’m glad, too. You probably knew that.”

“I may have, but I like hearing it, nonetheless. Did you call for a reason?”

Right. Okay. Go time. A half-dozen half-baked plans flitted through his mind as he rejected them one after another. He wasn’t witty enough, or sharp enough, or smooth enough, or cheeky enough or-

“Prompto? Are you sure everything is fine?”

Now or never. “Ignis… um. How do you feel about going on a date?”


	21. Chapter 21

The Insomnian Gallery of Fine Art was a far more approachable building than the name made it sound. As with everything in Insomnia, it was built up instead of out, land being at a premium in the dense city. It soared above the street, almost a work of art by itself. If Ignis were being honest, he would admit some surprise that this was where Prompto would choose to go, but a banner out front proudly proclaimed a new photography exhibit including an exhibition of works by local artists. Perhaps it wasn’t so surprising after all.

Certainly no less surprising than Prompto asking him out in the first place. Holding Prompto off until he reached the end of his self-imposed week of exile had proven more difficult than Ignis could have guessed, but he’d had a very solid reason on his side.

And now, here they were. Or here he was, as he’d arrived some minutes early with no Prompto in sight. If he were being entirely honest, he’d have to admit to some nervousness. This was the first date he’d been on in quite some time, not to mention the first time he’d be seen in public with Prompto. The potential complications seemed to unfold endlessly in front of him-

Only to be dispelled by running footsteps approaching the bench he’d found to sit and wait. Prompto doubled over, panting a bit with his hands on his knees. “Sorry! Sorry, am I late? The bus was like… forever and then the train and, um, it sucked.” He fixed a smile on Ignis. “But it’s way better now! Uh. Hi?”

The complications could just uncomplicate themselves, Ignis was busy ignoring them. “Hello. You aren’t late. I was early.”

“Oh. Well. Great!” It took another moment, but Prompto managed to straighten up, breathing more normally. His hands disappeared into his pockets while he waited for Ignis to join him, then he led the way to the steps. “I hope this is okay. I don’t go a lot of fancy places, you know? But I can’t really see you enjoying a date in an arcade or, like, on one of my endless photo hunts. And nowhere has food as good as yours, so that’s out, too, and-”

“Prompto.” He set a hand on Prompto’s shoulder, feeling how tense he was. “This is fine. In fact, it’s quite wonderful. I haven’t been here in years.”

He could see the tips of Prompto’s ears going red even though Prompto was refusing to look back at him. “It’s pretty much my favorite. This and the natural history one, anyway. Did you know there were ancient chocobos that were, like, gigantic? Dinosaur chocobos! They were like all kinds of colors and-” He twitched, cutting himself off and barely glancing at Ignis before determinedly staring at his feet and the stairs beneath them. “I mean, not that I go all that often, or anything. You know.”

Luckily, with Prompto facing away from him, he wouldn’t see Ignis’ smile. “Of course. Perhaps we could visit there next time?”

He patted Prompto’s back through the sudden coughing fit. “O-oh yeah. Next time.” His voice was mildly squeaky but he forged ahead. Ignis was almost proud of him. He held the door for Ignis as they reached the top of the stairs then hurried to get past him to the front reception desk. “No, no, wait, I got this!” Prompto patted his pockets down until he found what he’d been looking for, producing two pre-purchased tickets and handing them over to the girl behind the desk. She glanced at them, congratulating Prompto on something that made him blush, and then Prompto was waving Ignis through into the rest of the museum.

Ignis raised an eyebrow. “Congratulations?”

The blush got worse. “It’s nothing. It’s stupid. Don’t worry about it. Anyway! Where do you want to start? I’ve, uh, kind of got most of the permanent exhibits memorized, so anywhere is good for me.”

He was missing something. Ignis hated missing something, but he didn’t think it was probably anything too serious. Surely Prompto would think better about keeping important secrets by now. “Perhaps we could start with the temporary exhibition, then?”

Prompto actually squeaked. “I was thinking we could wait and save that one to last, actually? Since I haven’t see it yet?”

Definitely missing something. He’d follow Prompto’s ungainly lead for now, though. “Very well. Perhaps we should start at the top and work our way back down?”

Immediately, Prompto’s expression brightened. “That sounds great! The galleries all flow together really well if you do that. Elevator’s over here.”

Ignis followed, startled to realize he was already enjoying this date more than he’d enjoyed any of the sparse few in his past. Perhaps it was the fact that he already knew he wanted this relationship to continue, date or no, or perhaps it was just Prompto being… well, typical Prompto, as far as he could tell. Prompto had never really behaved any other way, but it had snuck up on Ignis, growing on him until now he realized exactly how much he appreciated it, how endearing it was that he put so much of himself out there for anyone to see. Ignis wasn’t sure he knew anyone else quite like Prompto. He wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Falling in love with more than one person would ruin his reputation.

...Not that he’d fallen in love, of course. Simply a manner of speaking.

Prompto seemed to recover himself on the elevator ride up to the highest public floor, flashing Ignis a smile as the elevator dinged their arrival. The top floor was open, a railing guarding an overlook onto the central atrium that went all the way back down to the ground floor. Prompto leaned over far enough that Ignis nearly tugged him back, but once his feet were back on the ground, he gestured for Ignis to follow. “Come on. Start over here. They’ve got this piece you absolutely have to see.”

And just like that, they were off, Ignis trailing in Prompto’s wake. He’d, obviously wrongly, assumed Prompto only wanted to come for the photography exhibition, but apparently he didn’t limit himself to a single favored art form. He realized suddenly that he’d completely underestimated Prompto, even as much as he’d come to appreciate him over the last weeks.

He would have to take care not to do so in the future.

And, perhaps, admit that he was, just a little… he would allow ‘smitten.’

Ignis lost track of time as he followed Prompto through the museum, with Prompto cheerfully regaling Ignis with stories of the pieces they were looking at, of adventures he’d had in the museum previously, of traveling exhibits he’d seen that he wished would come back, of exhibits he’d missed that he sorely regretted. Ignis chimed in increasingly often as they went, bridging the gaps especially when Prompto became self-conscious of playing tour guide and began to close in on himself. Ignis would do his best to draw him back out, asking questions about this piece or that until Prompto was full steam ahead again.

Until they finally turned a corner to find themselves facing a large exhibition hall with a smaller version of the banner Ignis had seen outside, declaring this a showcase of up-and-coming local talents. Ignis glanced at Prompto with a wry grin. “They seem to have found developing artists for this one.”

Prompto groaned, but it wasn’t nearly as much of a reaction as Ignis had anticipated. If anything, Prompto looked almost more nervous than he had outside. “O-oh, ha, yeah, that’s… I mean, that’s awful, even for a pun, but, um…”

Without finishing his thought, such as it was, Prompto took a deep breath and forged ahead into the hall, leaving Ignis little choice but to follow, wondering what he’d done or not done that Prompto had taken exception to.

He caught up to Prompto just inside as Prompto stopped at the first grouping of photos, a series of sepia-toned portraits that, while not Ignis’ style, were obviously polished. The nameplate read Iustitia Legis. Prompto pointed at it, then dropped his arm, stuffing both hands in his pockets. “I know some of the people with works in here. Tia’s pretty cool. I met her in a workshop a while back.”

“A workshop.” Ignis looked more closely at the photos, if only for something to do while they talked. Prompto seemed much more hesitant still than he had before. “I thought you weren’t looking to turn your photography into a profession?”

Obviously the wrong thing to say. Prompto looked down, and away, and everywhere but at Ignis. “I’m not. Really. Just… well, even a hobby, you can want to get better at it, right? So when I can get the money together…”

“Of course.” He cleared his throat, gesturing toward the next display. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

If anything, moving on made Prompto look even less comfortable. “No, it’s okay. I got what you meant. I think.”

The next set of photos seemed to tell a story rather than present a cohesive theme, a small dog strategically placed in each photo, some easier found than others. Prompto relaxed a bit when Ignis jokingly challenged him to a contest to see who could find the pup first.

The declared it a tie when they started getting odd looks from the other patrons.

The following few displays blended together, Ignis much more content to watch Prompto than the art. In the center of the exhibition space, a large column declared the exhibit to be possible thanks to a collaboration with Meteor Publishing, which Ignis vaguely recalled as being the publishing house behind a number of magazines. More photos graced the other sides of the column and Ignis began to drift closer to it, only to feel a tug on his arm.

Prompto looked suddenly and inexplicably ready to melt into the ground. “Been a pretty full day, huh? I’m getting pretty tired…”

“Are you quite sure?” He did look worse for wear, although something in the back of Ignis’ mind questioned whether it really had anything to do with being tired. He glanced back to the column.

“That’s nothing.” Prompto’s voice cracked a bit, furthering Ignis’ suspicions, although he wasn’t sure what he was suspicious of quite yet. “Just, you know, sponsors and stuff.”

“And here I’d thought you hadn’t seen this exhibit before.” His voice was mild, but Prompto colored deeply. Ignis wove their fingers together in something like apology, taking the opportunity of Prompto’s stunned confusion to tug him the rest of the way to the column.

The dedication continued onto the second side, with an explanation of the Editor’s Pick Contest for ‘upcoming shooting stars in the world of photography’ to ‘brighten and expand the horizons of the art.’

Whoever had written this enjoyed puns more than Ignis, apparently.

The winner received a small monetary prize and a display of their own at the exhibition. The third side of the column, and the fourth now that Ignis could see it, were covered in photographs much like the rest of the displays in the room. The nameplate announced the winner of the Editor’s Pick Contest:

Prompto Argentum.

“Well.”

“Sorry.” Prompto shifted his weight from foot to foot next to him, not pulling away from their joined hands but not looking at Ignis, keeping his eyes firmly on, apparently, his photos. “It’s probably pretty lame to bring a date to see your stuff, huh? We should have skipped it.”

His fingers tightened on Prompto’s without conscious decision, but Prompto would have to drag him away from this. A few of the photos Ignis recognized from Prompto’s social media or things he’d texted to Ignis here and there. Most were new, and although Ignis couldn’t claim any sort of expertise, he was sure with a bit more practice they’d be on par with anyone else in the room. “I would be very upset if we had.”

Next to him, Prompto’s shifting noticeably slowed. “Y-you would?”

“I would.” He gave Prompto a small smile. “I can’t imagine coming all this way to the museum and then missing the best part.”

Perhaps, just perhaps, he’d intended to cause the deep blush that washed over Prompto’s face.

With coaxing, Prompto slowly relaxed, leaning into Ignis just a bit as he pointed from one picture to the next with his free hand, talking about them much less confidently than he had the artwork elsewhere. About the way the lighting had just crept through this tree so perfectly he’d been fifteen minutes late to work because he’d needed to get the perfect shot. About the way there was a street band playing when he took that shot and he could still hear them every time he looked at it. About a strangely familiar silhouette and how he usually didn’t share pictures of his friends because he liked to keep them for himself, but that one had just been too perfect not to.

About how he’d only entered the contest because his friends had pestered him into it, how he’d been so certain he’d never win, how he’d been so shocked when he’d received the phone call that he had.

Ignis was fairly sure this was the longest, and most personal, talk they’d ever shared, and he… very much did not want it to end.

But then they’d looked at every photo and Ignis had asked every question he could without seeming untoward. The exit loomed inexorably in front of them.

Prompto’s hand was still warm in his own.

Perhaps, he considered as they passed the reception, the girl calling out to wish them a good evening, they could start at the beginning again, work their way back down, perhaps...

A familiar chime sounded from his pocket and Ignis cursed under his breath. He could have sworn he’d silenced those push notifications. He reluctantly released Prompto’s hand to fish his phone out of his pocket. “I’m so sorry, Prompto, let me just-”

But Prompto didn’t look upset. Quite the opposite, in fact. “You play King’s Knight?!”

How he’d gotten that from a single notification, Ignis wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He cleared his throat, slightly less embarrassed than a moment ago, but only slightly. “A friend of mine introduced me to it. I take it you’re familiar with the game, yourself?”

“Familiar with it?!” Prompto grabbed his arm, all but pulling Ignis the rest of the way to the exit and out, to the set of benches they’d met on this morning just beside the museum steps. Then he pulled out his own phone. “Oh. Em. Gee. I can’t believe you play! This is the coolest thing! You have to friend me like five minutes ago.”

What, Ignis wondered, had he gotten himself into now? And yet, he couldn’t help smiling as he pulled up the game, holding it out for Prompto to copy down his friend code. Prompto continued to babble on about strategies and main characters and all sorts of things that Gladio would probably care about, but he found himself distracted watching Prompto instead. His personality could turn on a dime, but none of it felt forced or artificial, something Ignis was more than familiar with. His shy enthusiasm with his photography was so different from what he was displaying now, but both emotions were intriguing and so very Prompto.

Ignis found himself reaching out, fingers brushing along Prompto’s jaw, his rant on the benefits of some game stat Ignis hadn’t paid attention to breaking off with an indrawn breath. His fingers came to rest under Prompto’s chin, gently drawing him forward even as Ignis himself leaned down, bringing their lips together.

Perhaps it was cheating, listening to Prompto’s heartbeat race, feeling it match his own, but he didn't think anyone would hold it against him.

Too short a moment later, he drew back, feeling a bit breathless himself. “I’m sorry. I… I’m not sure why I did that.”

Prompto swallowed shakily. “It’s fine. Super fine. You could do it again, if you wanted.”

 

So he did.


	22. Chapter 22

On some level, Prompto felt kind of stupid for being every lovesick cliche in the world, but that was easily drowned out by being every lovesick cliche in the world. 

Ignis had kissed him. Twice! And okay, maybe those kisses had taken less than thirty seconds total between the two of them, because they’d been in public and Ignis was still Ignis, but kisses. Two of them. Two whole kisses. 

 

Two.

 

Whole.

 

Kisses.

 

He sighed happily, the sound echoed by a much more disgusted one. 

“Are you really gonna be like this all night?”

He glanced at Noct, going red. He’d been like this for a day and a half already, ever since said two kisses, so signs pointed to yes. “Um.”

Noct sighed in disgust, grabbing the remote to pause the movie they’d been watching. It was definitely not a vampire movie, but Prompto hadn’t been paying much attention beyond that. He fidgeted with the edge of one of the couch cushions while Noct just looked at him, probably all judging, but Prompto refused to look up to find out.

And then Noct sighed again, less disgusted and more worried, and nudged Prompto’s shoulder. “C’mon, out with it. What’s up with you?”

He could feel the tips of his ears warming uncomfortably and attempted to will the blush away before it grew. “Nothing?”

“It’s not-” Noct cut himself off with another sigh. Prompto glanced up at him out of the corner of his eye, watching Noct turn to face him on the couch, crossing his legs in front of him. “Look, I know I’m not Luna, and sometimes I say the wrong thing, okay? But you can tell me stuff if you want to. I won’t… think bad stuff about you or anything.”

That wasn’t Noct’s usual brand of heart-to-heart, which was just to not have one, which showed exactly how serious he was. Prompto sometimes forgot that his friends totally made up in quality what they lacked in quantity. Like, a lot. The blush spread to his hairline. “Dude, I know that!” He punched Noct’s knee half-heartedly. “It’s nothing bad.”

Noct leaned forward to punch him back. “You can tell me good stuff, too, you know.” Prompto started to nod, thinking that was the end of it, but Noct apparently wasn’t done at all. “Was it your vampire?”

The blush immediately took over the rest of his face. Noct smirked victoriously, so of course Prompto punched him again. “He’s not my vampire.”

He couldn’t imagine Ignis being anyone’s anything. He was just so… Ignis.

Even if the idea of calling Ignis ‘his’ anything sounded even better than it had before the kisses.

“Well, whatever he is.” Noct was still smirking that stupidly Noctis smirk that said he knew exactly what he was talking about even when he didn’t. “Tell him not to make you all mopey again like you were last week. This is annoying, but it’s still better than that.”

“He didn’t…” The words died on his lips as Noct just fixed him with a look. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Whatever.” That one sounded more final, and Prompto breathed a sigh of relief as Noct stretched out his legs, feet in Prompto’s lap, and grabbed the remote to go back to the movie. “So.” He started to tense, but it was too late. “D’you get laid or something?”

The blush suddenly and irreversibly took over the rest of his body. He was pretty sure even his toes were blushing and that he would continue blushing for the rest of eternity. Even his dead body would still be blushing. “W-wha…”

The movie continued playing, but Noct didn’t even pretend at nonchalance anymore. And his feet were still keeping Prompto from escaping, dammit. “You seriously got laid and you weren’t even going to tell me? Your best friend? Forever? We pinky swore, Prom.”

“No, I did not get laid!” Six help him, he was going to spontaneously combust and it would be all Noct’s fault, so he didn’t even feel bad that he’d probably take the couch with him. “I didn’t- I mean- We- It’s not like that!”

Noct was watching him suspiciously now and Prompto couldn’t imagine the nuclear blush helped much. “What is it like, then?”

“Not that.” He shifted, but Noct just moved to put more weight on Prompto’s lap. “Ugh! Fine. There might have been a date. Kind of.”

“How do you ‘kind of’ have a date?” 

That was a good question. Prompto didn’t know. If anyone could have done it, though, it probably would have been  him. “Like, okay, there was a date. It was just, you know, kinda casual.”

“But he said it was a date, too, right?” Noct paused, and Prompto had a pretty good idea he wasn’t going to like whatever came out of his mouth next. “Are you still working for this guy?”

That was a fantastic question. If Prompto had anything beyond his toes, it would be blushing, too. Maybe his aura or astral projection or whatever was blushing. Ignis hadn’t fed from him since the night he’d confessed and gotten kicked out, which meant he was probably back to frozen blood, which made Prompto feel absolutely awful every time he thought about it. But at the same time, when he’d sort of hinted around the subject, Ignis had just smiled and said perhaps they should work on one relationship at a time.

Prompto thought maybe that meant he was fired, but he wasn’t sure.

Noct seemed to take his silence for an answer, which was good because he wasn’t getting a better one. “As long as he doesn’t think you have to put out just because he’s paying you.”

It took a second for that to actually sink in, and then Prompto jerked forward, nearly spilling them both off the couch. “What?!”

“What what?” Noct resituated himself so he wasn’t sitting quite so precariously. “I’m just saying if he thinks-”

“I’m not ‘putting out’ so it’s not relevant!” This was absolutely the worst conversation he’d ever had with Noct, including the one where he’d found out about Ignis in the first place. “I said I didn’t get laid!”

“I figured you were embarrassed.”

Prompto stared. “I definitely am now.” 

Even Noct had the good grace to look a little embarrassed now. “Are you two… I don’t know. Serious?”

Were they? Prompto… kind of wanted to be. If how much time he’d spent thinking about Ignis since basically they met counted for anything, he definitely felt serious. Even if Ignis kept wanting to be slow about everything. Did that make them like half-serious? Demi-serious? Serious Lite? “I don’t know?”

“You… Actually, no, that sounds just like you.” Before he could get upset over what Noct had meant with that, Noct reached over to poke him in the stomach. Prompto swatted his hand away. “Look. You know I worry about you, and this guy’s a big mystery. You won’t tell me anything-”

“I can’t!”

“And that’s weird, too! If you’re dating him, as your best friend, I am obligated to meet him and give him a shovel talk.”

“...I am not letting you give him a shovel talk.” How was Noct both the best and worst best friend in existence? A tense stand-off lasted almost five whole seconds before Prompto broke eye contact, flopping against the back of the couch. The very idea of anyone trying to give Ignis a shovel talk was ridiculous, but Noct? It’d be like a puppy growling at a… heh, at a dragon, honestly. 

Actually, the more he thought about it, the funnier it sounded, so he shook that thought out of his head before it could burrow in too far. “No shovel talks.”

“How is that fair, when you even gave me a shovel talk when I started dating Luna?”

Prompto spluttered, the blush renewing itself (toes, astral projection, and all) with a fiery passion. “I did not give you a shovel talk.”

“You totally did, except you just threatened to sell every unflattering picture you’ve ever taken of me to the Daily Insomniac. So fine, you gave me a photography talk, which is ten times lamer. Congratulations.”

Flailing blindly until he hit something that may or may not have been Noct wasn’t the most efficient method of retaliation, but it worked for him. “Shut up.”

In the background, the forgotten movie filled in the quiet until Noct shifted again. “Can I meet him if I say no shovel talks?”

“Noct…”

“No, I know, I know, okay.” Noct finally moved his feet, sitting up on the couch like a relatively normal person. As normal as Noct ever got. “But I’m registering a strong objection. Got it?”

And Prompto leaned over to elbow his side, starting a brief but vicious elbow war between them. “Roger roger, good buddy!” He grinned, settling in again. “But seriously. Thanks, Noct. You’re the best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Noct knew exactly how many awful, embarrassing pictures of him Prompto actually has, he wouldn't think that photography talk was so lame. Don't underestimate the power of someone with a good camera and no regard for personal boundaries.


	23. Chapter 23

Ignis’ phone rang halfway through the movie, and while he probably should have silenced it, he took the excuse while he could. He wasn’t sure if Prompto actually thought he wanted to see every inaccurate vampire movie in existence or if it was somehow amusing to him, but this was the third one he’d brought over and Ignis had yet to see the appeal. Spending time with Prompto, yes; spending it watching this… drivel… well, also yes, honestly, because it made Prompto happy, but he was still taking the call. “I’ll be just a moment.”

Prompto grumbled and sat up from where he’d been leaning into Ignis’ shoulder to let him up. In reward, Ignis ran a hand through his hair before stepping into the kitchen where it was slightly quieter before checking his screen. Gladio.

Perhaps this excuse would not be as good an excuse as he’d wanted.

Too late now. He swiped to answer, turning his back on the television where someone seemed to be bathing in a pool of blood. Honestly. “Gladio.”

“Hey, Iggy. Iris wanted me to… Is your TV on?”

Of course he would notice so quickly. Sometimes Ignis thought his detractors were right and Gladio was lying about being merely human. “It is.”

Silence fell on the other end of the line. Then, almost suspiciously, “What are you watching?”

There had been an outburst of screaming just then. He supposed it didn’t sound much like anything he would usually watch. 

Prompto helpfully chose that moment to yell at the screen. “No! Dammit, that’s like a room of death! Don’t go in there!” He did have the grace to look guilty immediately after. “Sorry, Iggy, promise I’ll be quiet! Or… quieter.” 

Well. At least he was aware of his own limitations.

On the phone, Gladio sounded even more suspicious and perhaps a bit confused. “Who else is there?”

The immediate impulse was to answer ‘no one’ and pretend it was none of Gladio’s business. But Prompto had hesitantly, even apologetically, brought up his own friends wanting to meet Ignis a few days ago and it had made him think. If he wanted Prompto in his life so badly, and wanted himself in Prompto’s, that would eventually mean more than just hiding away here in his apartment.

But he… wasn’t sure he was ready for that, even if Prompto was. He’d fortunately never claimed to be a very good person. Still, not acting ashamed of even having Prompto over was a good first step. “A friend. I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually.”

Gladio went suspiciously quiet, and Ignis nearly hung up before Gladio spoke and confirmed those suspicions. “It’s blondie, isn’t it.”

His eyes narrowed even though Gladio couldn’t see it. “I will neither confirm nor deny that.”

“It’s blondie.” Gladio sounded decisive enough that Ignis knew there was no point in bothering to confirm or deny it now. “Called it.” 

Ignis closed his eyes rather than roll them, not entirely sure they wouldn’t somehow get stuck from the force of it if he gave in to the urge. “Yes, you’re very perceptive.”

Thankfully, Gladio seemed content not to rub it in any further. Less thankfully, it was apparently because he wasn’t done asking questions. “So I’m going to meet him, huh? That doesn’t happen often.”

“I already complimented you on your powers of observation once tonight, Gladiolus.” If he wanted his questions answered, he needed to actually ask them. Nevermind that Ignis had used the same tactic on him plenty of times in the past.

“Oh, full name and everything. It’s more serious than I thought.” That was Gladio’s ‘I am gleefully ignoring every hint you try to drop’ voice. “And you were just gonna hide him from me.”

“I swear to all that is holy if you do not-”

“Okay, okay! I’ll play nice.” His tone said otherwise, but Ignis would take the olive branch for now. “What was his name again? Mercutio?”

“Prompto. Which you know very well already.” Which meant Gladio probably had a reason for asking, which probably involved a joke Ignis probably didn’t want to hear.

“Right. Prompto.” Gladio’s tone was overly thoughtful. “He live up to it?”

He should have known. “I am hardly going to answer such a cretinous question.”

“That hurts, Iggy. Makes me want to take back what I said about playing nice.”

“Gladio…”

“Like maybe asking if you-”

Ignis hung up before he could finish the question, knowing it would have one of two likely endings and he didn’t want to hear, let alone answer, either of them. Not five seconds later, his phone buzzed with an arriving text.

An arriving text filled with nothing but lewd emoji and laughing faces. 

He sighed, abandoning his phone in the kitchen to remove even the slightest temptation to respond. Anything he said at this point would be a win for Gladio, so better just not to play.

Prompto barely glanced away from the screen when Ignis rejoined him, busy huddling under a blanket. Apparently he’d missed a ‘scary’ part. “Hey, sorry. I probably should have paused it when you got up, huh?” He flinched as a door opened on screen, although Ignis couldn’t tell why. It was obviously a red herring. “Want me to go back?”

He’d rarely wanted anything less. “No, it’s fine. I’m sure I can catch up quickly enough. The plot hasn’t been the most involved so far.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Prompto settled in against his side again once Ignis sat, burying his face in his hands as someone was bloodily murdered on screen. “Holy shit! Did you see that?!”

“I am watching, yes.” It should have been annoying, but he just laughed, tugging Prompto closer. “I was under the impression you’d seen this one before.”

“I have!” It came out as nearly a wail. “I just forgot that part!”

“I see.” He didn’t see, but if histrionics enhanced Prompto’s enjoyment of the film, then so be it. 

Once the allegedly scary part had passed, Prompto sat up a bit straighter, apparently less interesting in the two main characters making out on screen than he had been in their best friend being disemboweled. “So who was on the phone?”

“Hm? Oh. A friend of mine.” The urge to deny everything was weaker this time but still present. It was easier to push aside, as well. He’d need to introduce them if only for Prompto to have someone else to harass about King’s Knight. “Gladiolus Amicitia. One of my oldest friends, in fact. He’s an ass, but somehow I still like him.”

Silence drew his attention away from the TV and back to Prompto, who was staring at him. An expectant expression had him looking quickly away. “Sorry! I just didn’t actually expect you to tell me.”

That said more than Prompto probably meant it to. Ignis hesitated. “I am not ashamed of you. I… admit I have been perhaps overly cautious in the past. I am trying to change that. If the both of you are going to be part of my life, then I should act like it.”

On screen, someone screamed, high pitched and frantic. Prompto jumped, laughing awkwardly even as he grabbed Ignis’ hand. “You mean it?”

“Of course.” He glanced over Prompto’s shoulder to the darkened hallway, looking concerned. “What’s that?”

Perhaps not coincidentally, he timed it to another outbreak of screaming from the movie. When Prompto jumped and flailed, Ignis used the opportunity to pull him closer instead. “Iggy! That’s cheating.”

He hummed, unrepentant. “I believe there’s a saying: all’s fair in love and war?”

Prompto’s answering groan was long and disgusted, but it didn’t stop him from nestling further into Ignis’ side to continue watching the film, and Ignis made a mental note to cheat more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris is going to be very upset that Gladio got sidetracked from whatever she actually wanted him to call about.


	24. Chapter 24

There was even more of a bounce in Prompto’s steps than usual as he sauntered into Ignis’ building. Any day he got to see Ignis was a good day, but the night before Ignis had asked him to make sure to drink his potion before he came over today. Prompto had joked that Ignis must have missed eating him instead of frozen shit, but Ignis only replied ‘among other things,’ leaving Prompto to stew over what that could mean for the rest of the night. 

The doorman on duty was the slightly less pissy one, so he got a cheerful nod as Prompto whistled his way past and into the elevator. Inside, his stomach was doing cartwheels and backflips, but he was determinedly ignoring it, right up until the moment he knocked a jaunty rendition of his current favorite chocobo jingle against Ignis’ door.

He was about to start on a second verse when he heard the lock slide back and the door opened on Ignis. Ignis who was smiling a real, visible smile, not a smirk or little twitch of his lips, but a smile. For him. Prompto was never going to get used to that. His own smile grew until he was pretty sure his face was about to fall off, but he couldn’t help it. “Hey! Iggy!”

Ignis’ lips twitched at the nickname but his smile didn’t fade so Prompto counted it as a win. “Hello, Prompto. Right on time as always.” Ignis stepped back to let Prompto step inside. “I take it you’ve had a good day?”

More like his day was instantly and exponentially better as soon as Ignis opened the door, but Prompto’s ears went hot at the very thought, so he certainly couldn’t say that. He waited as Ignis shut and locked the door, eyes roving over the decor he’d seen plenty of times before now without really looking at any of it. “It was pretty okay, yeah. Went fast.”

There was something about the weight of Ignis’ attention that Prompto had always been almost hyper aware of, but when he looked back, expecting to find eyes on him, Ignis was already heading for his kitchen. “Always preferable to the alternative.”

It took a good few seconds before he managed to follow, feeling like he’d missed something. “Oh, yeah, no, I’ve had days like that, too. Lots. Super lots. Usually at work. So… guess it’s kinda good I don’t… do that anymore?” Wait. Shit. How bad did that sound? “I mean, other than this. This is like way better work than anything!”

Was that worse? He didn’t know!

Ignis’ chuckle drifted back to him. “I know the feeling myself. Even my work has the occasional trying day.”

He perked up at the personal tidbit. As much as Ignis seemed to enjoy talking, he didn’t talk about himself very much at all. “Really? You? Where do you work, anyway? ‘Successful businessman’ is like half this town, I think.”

“Lucian Technologies.” Ignis said it like it was some corner store, not a company responsible for half the electronics in Insomnia, probably. If not more. “I deal with company finances.”

‘Successful businessman’ indeed. Damn. Although… “Wait. Do you work with Ravus?”

The sharp look Ignis focused on him nearly made him take a step back. Ignis must have realized, as well, because he shook his head, retrieving a glass and turning his back on Prompto to reach into his fridge. “If you’re referring to Ravus nox Fleuret, then yes. I can’t say I’d have expected the two of you to be acquainted.”

It made Prompto laugh to even consider. “Yeah, no. I try to avoid acquainting myself with anything about Ravus. I know his sister, though.” He very nearly left it there. He’d been so careful to keep his personal life away from Ignis, to keep his friends out of their conversations, but things were different now. Right? Or at least they should be. He hoped. “Luna’s one of my best friends, so I get to hear about the company sometimes, or about which of the investors Ravus pissed off this week. She gets frustrated ‘cause he doesn’t think she should have to work, so I got a dartboard with his face on it, and she thinks it’s totally in bad taste but she still totally uses it.” His teeth snapped together as he reconsidered whether he should have said that much to someone who actually knew Ravus, but… ah hell, not like it wasn’t the truth.

Something like tension fell out of Ignis’ shoulders as he glanced at Prompto, returning from the fridge with a tall carafe of probably juice and nodded them both toward the living room. “That makes considerably more sense. I can’t say I blame you. Ravus is… grating, even professionally. I was quite confused as to how you would have met him.” 

He followed along, arms swinging. “Accidentally and we both super regretted it, promise.” He bounced onto the couch, something that was becoming almost a habit now, despite Ignis’ equally habitual flat look. “Luna’s all like ‘don’t judge him too harshly~’ ‘he’s had a hard life~’.” He did a surprisingly good Luna impression. “Like whose isn’t, right? He’s rich and powerful and has basically everything ever. What’s so hard about that?”

Ignis filled the glass, setting both it and the carafe in front of Prompto. “I don’t believe I’m in any position to make a comment on that.”

Oh. Right. Prompto reached for the glass, just to have something to hide behind as the full weight of how much he probably shouldn’t have said that settled on his shoulders. “You are so much less of a dick than Ravus.” He sipped at the juice, blinking a bit at the heaviness as it hit his tongue then taking a longer, appreciative drink. “Mm, hey, pomegranate!”

“You seemed to prefer it to the grape last time.” Ignis joined him on the couch, thankfully willing to let the subject shift.

He shrugged, still nursing the juice. Ignis always insisted on the biggest glass Prompto had ever seen. Why did he have to take the gross potion if he still had to drink all the juice ever made? “Grape’s kinda gross, but they’re still both better than apple. I am so over apple.”

The sound Ignis made had Prompto making a face at him in automatic response. “And yet, you were the one who absolutely insisted that apple was fine.”

“It’s traditional!” He couldn’t help the pout. “I don’t drink a lot of juice to know what everything tastes like. It’s a lot of sugar.”

“Hm. Well, yes, that would be the point of you drinking it now, but we’ll see if we can’t get some more variety going forward.”

Well. Wasn’t that the perfect opening. “So… going forward…. We’re still doing this? Right? Am I, uh… still working for you?”

He wasn’t sure, but he thought Ignis might have gone still for just a moment before he sat back against the back of the couch. Neither of them had brought it up since the date, either when Prompto had come over or when they’d talked or texted on the phone. Prompto didn’t know why Ignis hadn’t mentioned it until now, but he knew the words had always just felt too awkward when he’d thought them, so he’d never been quite able to say them out loud. 

Maybe Ignis’ prolonged silence meant the words were kind of hard for him, too? “I have been thinking about that. I certainly don’t expect you to continue with our agreement for free just because we’re now seeing each other; on the other hand, I could certainly understand if it would make you uncomfortable to be paid for it.”

‘Because we’re seeing each other.’ He said it so easily, like the words didn’t make Prompto’s stomach go into renewed, frantic backflips. “You’re kind of involved, too, you know. Kind of a lot. You should have some say in it.”

Ignis offered him a small smile. “While true, I would say there’s somewhat more pressure on your side. That is part of why I didn’t bring it up before now. I’ve been… enjoying our new arrangement.”

Backflips and butterflies all at once. His stomach was a messed up place. “W-what if I said no?”

Ignis just shrugged, making Prompto’s fingers clench more tightly around the glass. “Obviously I figured out a way around the issue once before. I could do it again.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t sure what he’d wanted to hear, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t it. “I guess. I mean, that’s-”   
  
He cut off abruptly as Ignis reached across to set a hand on his knee. “That said, I do not wish to influence you, but yes, Prompto, I would greatly prefer to continue both of our relationships in whatever manner you are comfortable with.” His lips twitched. “As you said, blood bags just don’t have quite the same charm.”

Suddenly, he was so amazingly glad to be holding a glass of juice, which he downed in one, prolonged gulp. His throat was still dry, somehow, even after drinking half a giant glass of juice. How? Somehow. “Th-then, I mean, this works for me, if it works for you? Working works.”

His answer was a soft laugh as Ignis squeezed his knee and sat back. “Very well. We’ll continue as things have been for now.”

Prompto nodded, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, focusing on putting the glass down on a coaster, letting it go then reaching for it again to adjust it, attempting to perfectly center it on the coaster, mind jumping from thought to thought as it tried to find something to say that would be slightly less awkward than any of the things he would usually say in this sort of moment. “Oh, hey, so…” No, this was worse than his usual level of awkward, but somehow, he couldn’t get his mouth to stop moving. “Okay, don’t like yell, but Nightfall was on last night, right? You know that vampire movie? And like nothing else was on, so maybe I watched it a little bit, and I started thinking, like, I know a lot of it’s crap, but they had to have a consultant or something, right?”

To his credit, Ignis did keep his reaction to a minimum. “Was this question going somewhere specific or were you just telling me about your night?”

Right. Yes. He considered not following through, but he couldn’t think of anything else to pretend he’d been leading up to at this point. “Well, like, in every vampire movie ever, they always bite people on the neck. You know? But you always bite my wrist.”

He totally didn’t imagine Ignis going still that time, he knew he didn’t, but then Ignis just cleared his throat and gestured toward Prompto’s wrist. “It’s a bit warm out for you to be wearing a scarf instead of a bracelet, don’t you think?”

Okay, good point. Prompto twisted the cuff on his wrist consideringly. “Probably, yeah. Is that why?”

“Among other reasons.” Ignis crossed his arms, watching Prompto more closely than Prompto would have thought the question deserved. He resisted the urge to squirm, just turning his cuff more quickly. “Personal comfort also plays a role. Most people don’t particularly like the idea of a vampire at their throat.”

“Oh.” No, probably most people wouldn’t. Although, the longer he pictured that possibility, the hotter his face felt, the heat slowly spreading down his neck and up his ears. He cleared his throat with only a tiny squeak. “I guess, maybe, if it was a one-time thing and whoever didn’t know the vampire very well. You already said killing me would be counterproductive.” Which strangely sounded more and less comforting at the same time when he pointed it out like that.

Ignis cleared his throat again, removing his glasses and pulling a cloth out of somewhere to clean them. Prompto was at least 90% sure Ignis didn’t actually need those, but he’d never gotten around to asking. “As you say. Not that any sane vampire would kill someone during feeding, that way or any other, but it is often the first image that comes to mind for many.”

Prompto laughed, awkward and a little nervous. “Well, I’ve met a not-sane one now, you know, so that’s out.” Something in the back of his mind cursed at him to just stop and leave it there, but since when had he ever listened to anything like common sense? “But you said ‘among other reasons’ like reasons, plural. So like more than just that one?”

“We’ve covered the important ones.” His voice was calm, almost cool, in a way that made Prompto almost want to try that ‘common sense’ thing, but something underneath was… more. Something enough to keep Prompto pressing his luck.

“C’moooooooon, Iggy!” The nickname was still so new, felt so almost forbidden, that using it sent a thrill of danger down Prompto’s spine. He was already in over his head, why stop now? “You can’t just leave a guy hanging! What if I die of curiosity?!”

The cloth disappeared back to wherever it came from, the glasses went back on his face, and Ignis fixed Prompto with a fondly annoyed look. “I’m quite certain that’s not possible.”

“Totally is. Us humans and cats. Awful way to go.”

And Ignis chuckled, sending a different kind of thrill through Prompto. “And you are an awful liar. But if you insist.” He was watching Prompto, almost like he was expecting some reaction, but Prompto couldn’t think of anything but to watch him back. "The neck, unlike the wrist, is a very common erogenous zone. It implies a certain level of intimacy, of knowledge between the vampire and his… victim.” They both seemed to realize that Ignis was reaching for him at the same moment, Ignis pulling his hand back quickly while Prompto went scarlet. “Which is, of course, entirely the reason most movies use it. The position entices even when it is also meant to frighten.”

“Oh.” Prompto’s eyes had followed Ignis’ hand back to his lap and now he tore his eyes away like he was seeing something he shouldn’t. He was pretty sure he was blushing places he’d never blushed before. He heard the tiny catch in Ignis’ breathing but didn’t spare much attention for it, caught up in his own racing thoughts, until Ignis stood. That made him look up to find Ignis no longer watching him. “Ig-”

“I’m glad to have satisfied your curiosity, but if you’ll excuse me a moment.” He slid smoothly around the coffee table, heading further into the apartment.

Heart pounding in his chest, he watched Ignis stop abruptly to adjust his glasses, knowing he needed to say something but not what. “Where are you going?”

Ignis shot him a look, not nearly as scathing as it would have been a month ago, but it still struck something in him. Ignis carefully cleared his throat, pushing his glasses more firmly into place once again. “The restroom? I’ll only be a moment.”

In fairness, Ignis was probably only gone a minute or two, three at the outside, but to Prompto those minutes were the longest of his existence so far, possibly breaking even with the time spent hiding from a ravenous, insane vampire that wanted to quite literally eat him. He fidgeted with his glass, with the coaster, with the tastefully decorative throw pillows. His leg bounced restlessly until he knocked the edge of the table and nearly toppled the carafe of juice, after which he forced himself into uneasy stillness, mentally rehearsing the thousand and one apologies he surely needed to give.

But when Ignis reappeared, calm and collected as before, but with that ‘something’ conspicuously absent, Prompto found he hadn’t the slightest idea where to begin. “My apologies. I-”

Right then, Prompto knew he couldn’t let Ignis continue an apology for something that was so obviously his fault. “No! No. I… um, I’m sorry. About the questions and stuff. I just figured, I mean, the date and stuff… and the kissing, and… w-well, I figured, you know. Um. I’m sorry. I mean, I said that, already, but I shouldn’t have. The questions, I mean. I didn’t mean to make you upset.” It came out in a rush just this side of frantic, but he needed to get it all out before Ignis could stop him.  

Which turned out for the best as Ignis just stared at him, increasingly confused until he joined Prompto on the couch again, reaching for Prompto’s hand and making Prompto’s stomach give one last, desperate half-cartwheel before sinking somewhere into the vicinity of his kneecaps. “I… Prompto, no, I am the one who should be sorry. You didn’t upset me, I promise.”

How could Ignis be so nice and so… Ignis… all at once? If they could find a way to draw energy from the act of blushing, Prompto could power all of Insomnia on his own for a year, just from today. “It’s cool! It’s okay! You’re, like, super private and stuff, and I get that! That’s totally, like, a-okay! Not that you need my approval or anything. That’s stupid. I mean, one date doesn’t, like, mean anything, so it’s cool. It’s totally cool.” His leg was bouncing again, and this time he didn’t even try to stop it. “Should we maybe get started, I guess? Does juice wear off? Do I have to drink another one?”

He started to reach for the carafe to pour another glass, but Ignis refused to let go of his hand. “Prompto.” It was firm, a request hidden in his name. He looked up, meeting Ignis’ eyes and feeling like he couldn’t look away any more than he could pull his hand free. “Our relationship certainly means something to me, a great deal of something, but I… I’m not used to discussing this sort of thing, especially not with someone I am greatly attracted to. I only needed a moment to compose myself. That’s all.”

Oh. Well, when he put it that way… “I still shouldn’t have pushed it.”

“But then you might have died of curiosity.” Ignis’ smile was teasing, but the way his thumb kept making soothing strokes over the back of Prompto’s hand distracted him from most anything else. “We couldn’t have that.”

“...I maybe did lie about that part. A little bit.”

“I may have guessed. Delivered with remarkable sincerity, though. Certainly better than anything in that Nightfall movie.”

Prompto couldn’t help the nervous smile. It wanted to be more than that, but the part of him that couldn’t quite believe Ignis wasn’t upset held him back. “That’s pretty high praise coming from you. Guess you do like me.”

Why he threw that out there, he didn’t know. Testing the waters, maybe, or testing… something. But Ignis just tilted his head in acknowledgement. “I do. Quite a bit, in fact.”

How did he say things like that so calmly? Maybe vampires were incapable of blushing? Prompto would just believe that until he felt better. In the meantime, he scrubbed at his own, annoyingly warm cheeks. “I like you, too. It’s probably pretty obvious.”

Ignis made a considering sound. “Lucky for me, that.”

Lucky? “That I like you or that I’m obvious?”

Apparently something about that was funnier than he thought, because Ignis laughed, squeezing his hand again. “I suppose both.”

Right. That sure cleared things up. “Oh?”

“Prompto.” Fond, that time. Prompto never would have guessed his name could be said so many different ways and have so many different meanings. “One of us had to be courageous, or obvious, enough to set things in motion or we’d still be back where we started. So yes, I feel very lucky both that you like me and that you are exceedingly obvious about it.”

“Uh...huh.” He wasn’t entirely sure that was actually a compliment, but he was going to pretend it was. “So. I mean, just to be clear.” Oh, Six. “We’re kinda somewhere between sentient breakfast buffet and neck biting is too intimate right now. Right? You know, for clarity.”

For a long moment, Ignis just looked at Prompto. Then he carefully let go of Prompto’s hand, removed his glasses, and produced that same mysterious cloth from some mysterious pocket to re-clean them. Prompto was pretty sure it was impossible for them to be dirty again already, but he thought maybe he was noticing a pattern. “For clarity, then. Are you implying your question earlier was instead a request?”

“I-” Prompto coughed. “I mean. No. But. I guess I was just-” He cut himself off as his throat closed up on an embarrassingly high-pitched squeak.

“Clarity, indeed.”

He buried his face in his hands, glad to have them free just for that. “Shut uuuuuuup.” How had his life come to this? Where had he gone wrong? Or right? Wrong and right both at the same time? Oh, he didn’t know. “It was a question until you went and started talking about erotic zones and- and whatever.”

“Erogenous.” The ‘something’ was most definitely back, and oh, Prompto hadn’t realized he could hear it so clearly. Knowing what he’d see before he looked, he slowly lowered his hands to find Ignis carefully watching a space somewhere between them. “Which I mentioned only after you brought the subject up. I… hm. Yes, well, I admit I have been thinking about it for some time, even before I kissed you.”

 

Oh.

 

...OH.

 

Ohhhhhhhh. “You-”

“Do not ask me to repeat that.” 

There was amusement in his face when Ignis finally raised his eyes the rest of the way, and Prompto realized abruptly that he knew exactly what that something was. He’d just never expected to find it in Ignis. “I-” He bit down on entirely the wrong words. “Um.” No, not those, either. Or those. Definitely not those. Finally, he settled on spitting it out in the most straightforward way he could manage and hoping for the best. “So you… Do you wanna…?”

The most straightforward he could manage was still… not especially straightforward. Thankfully, Ignis’ furious glasses cleaning seemed to say he’d gotten Prompto’s drift. “Of course I do.” It was so matter of fact, Prompto thought he might die. “I’m neither blind nor celibate. But even if it was something you wanted me to do, it is still summer, and so my argument about the impracticality of scarves still stands.”

Talk about clarity. He gestured weakly toward the collared vest he was wearing over a tank top today. “...I wear a lot of shirts with collars?”

“Prompto.” That one sounded like a prayer for patience. Prompto heard that sort of thing a lot. “That is not helping.”

What exactly was he supposed to be helping, though? “I’m just saying! I do!”

“Did you need to ‘just say’ it now?”

Obviously. “It seemed relevant?”

Ignis watched him, not quite incredulously but close, fingers still on his glasses now. He sighed, putting the cloth away and returning his glasses to his face. “We have very different definitions of relevance, you and I. Your wrist, please.”

Except… Prompto was pretty sure they didn’t. He was kinda dumb, sure. Okay, maybe a lot dumb, about a lot of things, but he wasn’t, like Ignis said, blind or celibate. He could pick up what Ignis was pretending not to put down. He cradled his wrist against his chest. “It’s, uh, been kind of sore lately. Actually. Like. Just right now. Suddenly. Ow! Super hurts!”

“Prompto…” Disbelief and fond frustration. He got that one a lot, too. “Should I consider this a request, then?”

“Um.” He could talk around the question all day, but actually saying something straight out was a lot more difficult. He scrubbed at the back of his neck with one hand, noticing how Ignis’ eyes tracked the motion. “You want to. Right? I mean, with me. Now?”

“After all the time you’ve spent today putting the idea in my head?”

Good point. Fair point. “Th-then.” His voice cracked, and he stopped to take a deep breath. This was stupid. He was nervous but like that was anything new. Luna was always saying if he wanted something, he had to be ready to reach out and grab it, so he did. It, in this case, being the bottom of Ignis’ sleeve. “Yeah. Yes. It’s a request.”

For a second, Ignis didn’t move and Prompto worried he’d done something exceptionally stupid, but then Ignis freed his sleeve from Prompto’s grasp in order to thread their fingers together instead. “Well, then, you’ll need to be closer.” The warmth in his voice made Prompto think of their date and Ignis kissing him and Ignis doing other things that hadn’t happened anywhere outside his head.

Prompto slid closer and closer again, following the tug of Ignis’ hand on his, until he found himself facing Ignis on the couch, straddling his thighs. “L-like this?”

Ignis’ free hand brushed down his neck, pushing his overshirt away and down over his shoulder. “I did say it was more intimate this way.”

This close, Prompto could see the way Ignis’ eyes followed the motion as he swallowed, the tips of Ignis’ fangs just starting to show between his lips. His heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest, and he was sure Ignis could see that, too, or at least hear it. He squeaked when Ignis abruptly pulled him into a kiss, losing track of himself beyond where they touched and where Ignis’ hand traced a burning path along his shoulder.

Eventually, Ignis pulled back, pressing a kiss to his jaw. “All right?”

He giggled. He couldn’t help it! “Honestly? Terrified, but like good terrified, like roller coaster terrified or spooky haunted house terrified, not running from the cops terrified. I… I want you to.” His laugh was still nervous but less manic this time. “Gotta see if it’s worth the build up now, right?”

“Well, I would certainly hate to disappoint.” The hand that had been on his shoulder slid down to his lower back. “Tilt your chin up?” 

A simple enough command to follow, at least until Ignis started nuzzling his way down Prompto’s throat and Prompto forgot how to breathe. Six, if there was ever a good way to die, though, this was it. And then Ignis’ fangs slid through his skin, the first pinch uncomfortable but not painful, like the feeling of Ignis biting his wrist times ten.

He would have been embarrassed to feel himself getting hard, except the hand on his back tightened, pulling him closer and making him arch his back until they were pressed together and he could feel that he definitely wasn’t the only one. If he had to wear scarves for the rest of his natural life, it would be worth it for this.

A long minute or a short eternity later, Ignis pulled back, much more slowly than he’d bitten Prompto. Prompto managed one look at him, both of them breathing quickly, and dropped his head back again. “Shit, Iggy.”

A breathy chuckle. “Indeed.”

“I...uh.” He felt something trickling down his chest and looked down to find blood beginning to stain the edge of his tank top. Ordinarily, he’d have gauze handy to stop the bleeding, but apparently he’d gone stupid in there somewhere. He pressed a hand over the bite, instead. “Oops.”

Ignis made a sound Prompto was positive he’d never heard from him before, a deep, throaty purr, and tugged Prompto’s hand away, licking the blood off his palm. 

He whimpered, mind going absolutely blank. 

Then he pulled his hand back, replacing it with his mouth, pressing against Ignis as his brain panicked increasingly quietly and eventually gave up.

Blood was going to get absolutely everywhere at this rate. Prompto really didn’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About time, amirite? This is the scene that spawned this fic. Sometimes you just want some vampirey goodness.


	25. Chapter 25

There were certain things Ignis prided himself on unfailingly, self-control among them. He’d had lovers before Prompto, certainly, and he’d enjoyed his time with them, but the physical aspects of his relationships had always been...restrained. Calculated, even. It certainly hadn’t been anything like this, frantic, messy kisses and the press of desperate bodies. As with everything, he was finding, Prompto was just made to be an exception to every rule. 

Not that he minded, he decided, as Prompto gave a tiny, choked sound and shuddered in his lap. He stroked his hands down Prompto’s back through the layers of his clothing, imagining all the different sounds he could win, all the different ways. If they ever made it off this couch.

“Tell me I didn’t just come in my pants like a fucking teenager,” Prompto mumbled, not lifting his head from where it had dropped against Ignis’ neck. “I wasn’t that trigger-happy when I was a teenager.”

“I’d rather not lie to you. If it helps, I found it quite flattering.” He didn’t even bother keeping the amusement out of his voice. Or the continued arousal.  He’d found it far more than flattering. “We were both rather on edge.”

Prompto shifted in his lap in a way that couldn’t possibly be accidental, making Ignis jerk underneath him. “Were?”

“You knew what I meant.”

Prompto laughed a little, finally raising his head to look at Ignis through his lashes. “Want me to return the favor?”

“I want a great many things, so long as you’re not doing it because you feel you owe me.”

The look Prompto sent him spoke volumes. He raised an eyebrow until Prompto huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no. Super no. I want this, you, just...well. I’ve just- You know, it’s… I never...”

Ignis thought he knew what Prompto was getting at. Even if it was a bit of a surprise to hear as much. “Never?”

“I mean. I mean, yes, I've done... stuff. With people. Multiple people. At different times. Just not... a lot. Or recently. And you know..." Prompto ducked his head, fingers plucking at one of Ignis’ shirt buttons without actually undoing it. "I didn't like any of them this much."

A familiar sort of helpless fondness settled over him then, and this time Ignis was the one reeling Prompto in for a kiss. “May I take you to bed, Prompto?”

“Yeah,” Prompto breathed, and quickly ruined any chance of either of them getting up by pressing Ignis back into the couch with another kiss. 

Ignis quickly lost track of time, a terrible habit that Prompto seemed exceptionally good at bringing out in him. Until Prompto started squirming in his lap again, reminding Ignis of much better places to be. Prompto, of course, professed that they were just fine where they were until Ignis enlightened him to the error of his ways by refusing to kiss him again until they’d relocated. And that no, the hallway did not count as relocating. No matter how… persuasive Prompto’s argument to that effect might have been. They left a trail of discarded clothing behind them, another terrible habit, but Ignis would happily pick up any amount of laundry if it meant getting to pull a naked Prompto down on top of him, warm and solid and eager.

Prompto braced himself on his hands, looking down at Ignis, tongue flicking over his swollen lips before catching the lower one between his teeth. “Can I go down on you?”

Ignis let his head thump back onto the pillows as he groaned. “I’m fairly certain we established that I’ll consent to whatever you might want to do?”

For a second, it made Prompto pause, then he laughed as he slid down the bed, hands roving over whatever of Ignis he could reach before he settled between his legs. “Gonna hold you to that.”

“I figured you–oh.” The feeling of Prompto’s mouth surrounding his cock was both expected and entirely sudden, and Ignis fought the urge to thrust up for more of it. “Oh, just like that.”

He probably should have expected this, Ignis thought hazily, propping himself up on one elbow and nearly groaning again as Prompto’s eyes caught his. It was hardly the sort of thing one offered if one weren’t good at it. And good was such a weak descriptor for what Prompto was doing, clever fingers playing with Ignis’ balls while his tongue did something fluttery and perhaps physically impossible. “Gods!”

Prompto hummed, seemingly pleased, and pulled back with a wet sound that had Ignis repeating himself, more shakily this time. “Good, right?”

Ignis shoved his own bangs back where they’d begun flopping into his face, laughing breathlessly. “You need to ask?”

“I told you.” For a second, something passed across Prompto’s face, too fast for Ignis to really identify. “I haven't done this with anyone, really.”

That was an interesting way to phrase it. “With anyone?”

Prompto went even redder - Ignis was beginning to wonder if it was safe for a person to blush so much - and mumbled low enough that Ignis’ above-average hearing still had to strain to catch it. “Anyone not made out of plastic.”

“Oh.” Hardly the most eloquent of responses, but Ignis was too busy being distracted by the mental image that confession called up. “That’s. Ah. Would you be offended if I said the practice showed?”

“No.” Prompto shook his head, his smile oddly shy considering what they were talking about. “You could...you could keep saying it, if you wanted.”

Could he now. “Much more of that and I won’t be able to manage words at all. Come up here?”

Prompto was quick to comply, sliding up the bed to kneel next to Ignis instead of over him, and that just wouldn’t do. Ignis pulled him into a deep kiss, muffling the little squeak Prompto made when Ignis rolled them both over. He pouted when Ignis drew away, which of course meant kissing that pout away, and… again, he was getting distracted. The next time he managed to pull away, Ignis resolutely ignored Prompto’s whine, reaching for his bedside table. “Stay there. Just like that. I want to see all of you.”

He watched Prompto squirm out of the corner of his eye, glancing back in time to watch him carefully studying the ceiling. “Pretty sure that’s s’posed to be my line. Only one of us is stupid good looking.”

He dropped the bottle of lubricant and the condoms just within arm’s reach and gave Prompto a look from above his glasses before he set them aside on the stand. “I wasn’t aware you could style your hair like that without ever glancing in a mirror. Astounding.”

“That’s not fair.” Ignis expected Prompto to waste more time deflecting but instead he sat up abruptly, catching Ignis in a kiss. He’d been more forward since Ignis had bitten him tonight than in the rest of their relationship combined, and Ignis found he rather liked it.

Rather a lot. 

“It wasn’t meant to be.” He reached for the bottle he’d put aside earlier, flipping the cap and pouring some of the liquid over his fingers. “Shall I make it up to you?”

Prompto nodded, swallowing quickly, eyes flicking between Ignis’ face and his hand. “Yes?”

As if Ignis could refuse even if he wanted to. He settled more comfortably between Prompto’s legs, taking a moment to simply enjoy the view before going any further. “You truly are beautiful, you know,” he murmured and cut off whatever protest Prompto might have made by taking him in hand, slick fingers pumping him once, twice, before sliding lower to tease his hole.

Prompto yelped, his flush creeping even further down his chest. The glare he tried to level at Ignis was more desperate-looking than annoyed. “That’s extra not fair.”

Ignis laughed softly, sufficiently chastened, and forewent the teasing to press a finger inside of Prompto with less resistance than he had expected. “More practice?”

“Shut up.” Prompto sounded far less bothered than the words implied. He squirmed, pressing himself against Ignis’ hand and huffing when Ignis pulled back. “But seriously, so much practice, promise I won’t break!”

“Patience, darling.” He hadn't intended to let the endearment slip out, but it was worth it for the way Prompto’s eyes flew up to his, startled and pleased at once. “We've rushed plenty for one night, don't you think?”

The first reply was lost in a whimper, most likely because Ignis took that moment to begin working another finger inside of him. Prompto shuddered and tried again. “Iggy, come on!”

“Soon.” It was a promise as much to himself as Prompto. “So just be good for me a little while longer.”

Prompto all but melted back into the sheets, and something inside Ignis purred with satisfaction about having read the situation correctly. “Perfect. Just like that.” He pressed a kiss to the closing wound on Prompto’s neck, fingers moving slowly. “So good.”

It was a heady feeling, watching Prompto sigh under him like Ignis was doing a lot more than prepare him. He paused long enough to retrieve the lube, coming back with three fingers and biting back a groan when Prompto rolled his hips down more pointedly. It was too easy to match the insistent pace Prompto set, encouragements falling from Ignis’ lips unbidden. He could have kept this up all night.

Prompto, quite obviously, had different ideas. “Iggy.” He planted his feet, letting his head fall back against the pillows. “Iggy, please, I've been good, please fuck me?”

His tongue caught on a fang when he went to lick his lips. It made him want to bite Prompto again even more. “You have been good.” His throat had gone dry, leaving his voice hoarse and wanting. He reached for a condom, tearing open the foil and getting it rolled on before leaning over Prompto to kiss him again. “Perfect, in fact. Are you ready?”

The incredulous look Prompto shot him made him chuckle even as he lined himself up, pressing inside the barest amount. He’d take that as a yes. Below him, Prompto had gone still, both of them adjusting as Ignis pushed further, Prompto warm and welcoming around him. 

And then Prompto was reaching up for him and Ignis was leaning down, meeting him halfway in a kiss, the change in angle making them both moan. Ignis shifted his hips just slightly, testing the waters, and shuddered when Prompto arched up against him like he couldn't wait a second longer. 

In a perfect world, he would draw this out, unwilling to give in to his orgasm and lose the moment. In this one, Prompto had wrapped a leg around his back and was doing his best to get Ignis to increase his pace, little whimpers of  _ more _ and  _ please _ and  _ harder _ making it impossible for Ignis to do anything less. 

They'd gone from kissing to panting into each other's mouths now, and Ignis startled briefly when Prompto turned his head, drawing Ignis’ attention to the bite marks he left earlier, blood painting red streaks across Prompto’s neck and down his shoulder, and the sound of Prompto's heartbeat. He was distantly aware of Prompto watching him out of the corner of his eye, breath hitching as Ignis’ hips snapped forward. “Iggy? I want… Bite me again?”

He should have said no. It was dangerous and stupid for a hundred different reasons, reasons he knew all too well,  and yet , he’d have said the same about this whole situation before he knew Prompto.  And yet ...

“Please,” Prompto gasped, and Ignis didn't last a second longer before he was burying his face in the curve of Prompto's neck and biting down once more. The wound had barely begun to heal, and Prompto’s blood flooded his mouth, intoxicating and delicious. 

Fingernails dug into the skin of his shoulder, and Prompto made the most incredible sound, a desperate, gasping keen, just before Ignis felt the stickiness of come against his stomach. The sound morphed into a sob as Ignis pulled his fangs free, Prompto's hands dragging down his back, likely leaving marks of their own. He couldn’t help himself, pressing Prompto down into the bed in a demanding kiss, forgetting the blood on his lips.

Eventually Prompto nudged him back, a faint tremble in his arms and legs giving away that he was nearing the point of overstimulation. “Are you-?”

“If you need me to-” He was close, yes, but not so much that he was willing to push Prompto too far. 

“No!” Prompto’s legs tightened around him, as if they didn't both know Ignis could break free, assuming he’d lost his mind enough to want to. “I'm good. Keep going.”

“Would that I could say no to you.” Somewhere along the line, he seemed to have misplaced that particular ability. Now, he hitched Prompto’s leg higher, quickening his pace again from where he’d fallen still for a moment. He was close already and watching Prompto writhing under him was nearly enough to finish him off alone. He clenched his eyes shut, thrusting hard a handful more times before reaching his own completion with a strained shout.

He very nearly collapsed on Prompto, holding himself up on his hands through sheer will. When he opened his eyes again, Prompto was looking up at him, sleepily pleased. “Good?”

He couldn’t help it. He laughed, pulling out slowly and disposing of the condom before falling to the bed next to Prompto. They could clean up in a bit, and get a bandage for Prompto’s neck. The sheets… were probably a lost cause. “Very.”

Next to him, Prompto hummed, obviously pleased. “Good, then. All that porn’s gotta count for something, right?”

Ignis was fairly sure he’d laughed more since he started dating Prompto than he had in the years leading up to it combined. “Practice does make perfect, as they say.”

“That was awful.” 

He hummed. “Perfectly awful. I’ve practiced extensively.”

“Iggy!”

He reached for Prompto who hesitated again before curling into Ignis’ chest. He seemed pleased enough with the position, but something about the hesitation held Ignis’ attention. “Is this alright?”

“Yeah.” The answer was quick, but Prompto followed it up with a little shrug. “Yeah, this is great. Just. I mean. Did you mean… the stuff you said?”

“I said quite a few things.” Most of which were rather blurry after the fact. “Perhaps you could narrow it down?”

Prompto was quiet long enough Ignis almost assumed he’d nodded off. When he finally did speak, the words were all but lost with Prompto’s face hidden against Ignis’ chest as it was. “The me being beautiful part.”

That just wouldn’t do. He leaned back, a hand on Prompto’s shoulder to hold him where he was so Ignis could see his face. “I meant every word of it. Whatever may have caused you to believe otherwise, the fact remains that you are incredibly beautiful.”

“I-Iggy…”

“And, my dear, I will continue to tell you so until you believe me. You may have noticed I can be quite persistent.”

Prompto opened his mouth like he wanted to protest, so Ignis silenced him with a kiss, a gentle hand under his chin. “Or perhaps I'll just do that every time you try to argue. It seems effective.”

“I… you…” Prompto blinked rapidly. “...Cheating!”

“Ah, yes, what was that saying, again? Something about love and war?”

Prompto hit his chest half-heartedly before snuggling against him again, as if Ignis wouldn’t feel him chuckling quietly, let alone hear. He settled a hand in Prompto’s hair, being rewarded with Prompto nuzzling lazily at his chest. 

Cheating more often, indeed.


	26. Chapter 26

On the plus side, he didn’t need a turtleneck. Barely.

He did own a lot of shirts with collars, and he’d dug a muscle shirt out of the back of his closet, a remnant of the period of time when he’d convinced himself that with enough hard work, dedication, and blind faith he would someday become capable of putting on muscle instead of staying eternally skinny. His vest over it even had a high collar, all the way to his chin, probably meant to be super high fashion or something, but he’d run across it in a thrift shop and fallen in love. He had it unzipped seeing as Insomnia had a tendency to become one big, humid slow cooker on sunny days like this, but he felt confident it was hiding everything there was to hide.

Okay, like maybe 70/30. But it was a solid 70/30. Noct had shot him a few odd looks since they’d met up, but he hadn’t said anything, which meant… actually, any number of things. Noct was odd like that sometimes. But it definitely meant he wasn’t entirely sure anything was wrong, or he would have said something by now. Probably. Like also 70/30.

He’d dragged himself out of Ignis’ apartment that morning with strict instructions to take care of himself and text Ignis that afternoon. Well, no, that wasn’t quite right. The instructions came first, yes, and then Ignis had pulled him into a very thorough kiss that had Prompto grinning like an idiot just remembering it, and then he’d dragged himself out and home, wearing a borrowed jacket and hoping no one would look too closely.

Part of the strict instructions had involved a double dose of the blood potion thingy, the very thought of which had been almost enough to turn Prompto's stomach. But he'd promised, so he did it, blinking warily into the mirror as the twin wounds went from angry and fresh to looking at least a few days old. He supposed that was an improvement, and he did feel more energetic, even as his tongue wanted to crawl out of his mouth and die over the taste.

He'd call it a draw.

Noct had texted around noon asking if he wanted to hang out, which was Noct-speak for ‘I’m on my way to pick you up right now, get dressed so I don’t have to find parking.’ So Prompto did because he was an awesome best friend like that.

Little did he know that they’d be headed to Lucian Technologies within the hour to pick up Luna. To rescue her, Noct said, and Prompto didn’t entirely disagree. He knew Luna loved her brother, sure, but he couldn’t really see how. Ravus was like the worst combination of video game final villains he’d ever met in real life.

He played with his collar, tugging it up higher as he trailed into the building behind Noctis. Would he see Ignis? No chance, right? He was some bigwig who probably never came down to the lower floors, so it was safe, right? Safe, because he wasn’t entirely sure of his ability to control his facial expressions if he actually saw Ignis out in the wild, so to speak. Even if he managed not to say anything, at the least he’d give something away, and…

Actually he wasn’t sure anymore. He still didn’t want to mess up Ignis’ privacy, even if they were past the whole contracts thing. So probably not seeing Ignis would be the best thing, no matter how many backflips his stomach did over the idea.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Prompto jumped, but it was just Noct, odd look getting odder. “Yeah! Yep. You know me. Just kinda spacing out. Kinda… um. Long night.”

Noct’s lips twisted into a dubious scowl. “Uhhuh. You wanna go wait in the car or something, then?”

Yes. “Nope! I’m all good! Besides, if I’m not here, who’ll stop you from jumping Ravus when he goes all ‘Caelum, you offend all twelve of my senses, which I have because I am a superior elf’.” Okay, so his Ravus impression could use some work there.

It did manage to get the point across, though, because Noct snorted and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. How’re you gonna do that hiding in the bathroom?”

Which… fair point. Prompto could count on one hand the number of times he’d actually spoken to Luna’s brother (for some definition of ‘speaking’ that generally didn’t involve all that many words) largely because he’d become remarkably adept at ducking around corners or into bathrooms at the barest glimpse of white hair. It was something of a survival skill and he was kind of proud of it, actually.

They stepped off to the side into what looked more like a miniature park than a waiting area. Prompto reflexively checked around them for errant wildlife while Noct pulled out his phone, sending off a quick text that Prompto could only assume was to Luna. He wandered to the little fountain standing in for a pond or a river or something, poking a finger into the water and listening to it burble around its little path.

Noct yawned and pocketed his phone again, flopping into one of the comfy chairs scattered through the area. “They’re on their way down, she says.”

Prompto nodded absently, having found a tiny frog on the edge of fountain. He knew it! His preoccupation with his new friend and the sense of triumph that came with the find distracted him for a crucial few minutes. It wasn’t until the elevator at the end of the room declared its arrival on the first floor that Noct’s words sunk in.

 _They’re_ on their way down.

He choked, jerking upright just about the same time Noct stood, hands still lazily stuffed in his pockets, and there, across the room but drawing ever closer… Luna.

And Ravus.

In his brain, Operation Avoid Ravus kicked into overdrive, but unfortunately for everyone involved, with Luna at Ravus’ side and getting ever closer and Noct blocking his way to the easiest exit, he had no good reason or opportunity to make a break for it.

Oh, what interesting flooring they had in this place. It gave the impression of being grass while also being super professional. Imported? It looked imported.

“Lunafreya, what have I told you about inviting common rabble into this building?” He could hear Ravus’ sneer more than clearly enough to picture it without looking. He’d always hated Prompto apparently just for being Prompto and Noct for unspecified and possibly uncountable reasons. Prompto’s best guess to date was that it had to do with the whole ‘heir to a financial empire’ thing, since rich people probably got jealous of that, but also in the running were the ‘dating Luna’ thing (Prompto got the feeling Ravus would hate anyone who did that) or the… well, the ‘Noct is kind of a jerk, too, and really good at getting under Ravus’ skin’ thing. That seemed to be more correlation than causation, though, because Noct pissed off plenty of people that didn’t hate him nearly as much as Ravus did.

Luna sighed, and Prompto could picture her expression, too, even before she said anything: fond, probably, but exasperated, sort of how she looked at Prompto whenever he’d gotten himself into trouble somehow. “Ravus, if you weren’t my brother, sometimes I would wonder why I spend time with you at all.” He glanced up in time to see her kiss Ravus’ cheek, Ravus’ expression melting just slightly the way it always and only did around Luna.

And then Ravus glared at the two of them, probably ready to insult something or another until they took Luna and left, until he sniffed. And stepped closer. And focused right in on Prompto until it was all Prompto could do not to lean away. “Something about you is stranger than normal.”

The sudden and terrifying thought that if Luna was maybe-psychic, Ravus was almost certainly maybe-psychic, too, struck Prompto like a herd of dualhorns. He chuckled nervously. “Hey, coming from you, that’s kinda a compliment!”

Wrong answer. Ravus’ scowl deepened. “It certainly wasn’t meant to be.”

Okay, then. Prompto’s awkward laughter trailed off as he gave in to the urge to take a step back. In his attempt to look absolutely everywhere but at Ravus, he idly noticed his little frog friend had left the fountain, hopping his way placidly right under Prompto’s feet.

After that, it felt like a dozen things, all horrible, happened at once.

Naturally, he didn’t want to step on the poor frog, just living its best froggy life, but he was uncoordinated on the best of days and facing down Ravus did not make for the best of days. He took an awkward half-step, half-hop, leaving himself off-balance and feeling like he was about to tip over.

He was totally tipping over.

He barely had time for more than a panicked squawk before Noct and Ravus were moving almost simultaneously. Ravus, unfortunately, was closer. To be fair, even Prompto was pretty sure Ravus grabbing his shirt was meant to be something like helpful or at least keep him upright and not dirtying the flooring by laying on it. And it did do that: the fabric at his shoulder refusing to move jerked Prompto to a halt, half-choking him and stretching the already old neckline of the muscle shirt until a seam started to give way with a few reluctant pops.

Which meant, he realized as he cracked his eyes open again, having clenched them tightly closed in anticipation of hitting the floor, that the vest had already slid halfway down his shoulder and the collar of the muscle shirt was now helpfully framing his bite marks instead of hiding them.

Ravus hadn’t let go of his shirt.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement as the frog climbed into the base of a potted plant.

Next to him, Noct groaned in the way that said Prompto had just said or done something particularly stupid. Luna, behind Ravus, didn’t look quite as judgemental, but it was Luna. Prompto tried to shift away, but Ravus’ hand still didn’t relax and when he risked a glance, Ravus’ eyes were on him. So much for hoping he wouldn’t notice. “H-hey, thanks, uh, buddy. You can let go, though.” He poked at Ravus’ hand in hopes it would encourage him to let go. It didn’t. “Thanks for the save and all, but-”

“Those are fang marks.” Ravus’ voice was a curious mix of disdain and wary concern, which Prompto would have found funny were it directed at absolutely anyone else. “Vampire fang marks. How long ago were you bitten?”

Noct, seeming to finally remember that he was the best friend for a reason, grabbed Prompto’s arm and tugged, stretching him out between the two of them. “You’re right. We should get that looked at. Prompto, let’s go. Luna?”

Ravus still didn’t let go. “Are you stupid?” Prompto wasn’t even sure which of them Ravus was talking to. Probably both. “You should both know what this means. I’m certainly not going to let him go wandering when he could be infected and ready to turn at any moment.”

The hand not holding Prompto still retrieved his phone, and even though Prompto couldn’t see who Ravus was dialing, he had a very bad feeling it wasn’t anyone he wanted to meet while he had very obvious vampire marks on him.

“Ravus.” Thank the Six for Luna. She sat her hand on Ravus’ arm, exchanging unreadable glances with Noct. “Perhaps this isn’t the time-”

“Luna.” Prompto wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Ravus shorten Luna’s name before. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but for a second it felt like he was watching something private that he shouldn’t. “I recognize he is your friend, and I hope they will be able to help him, but this is a serious matter. You of all people should know that.”

And it was. Serious. Like the life-and-death sort of serious. Ignis had talked a time or two about increasing restrictions, about public opinion, about reasons for this, that, and everything else he asked Prompto to do or not do, but until that very moment, it hadn’t seemed to actually matter.

Past-Prompto was so stupid. Prompto kind of hated Past-Prompto right now.

Luna and Ravus were still arguing, but Prompto had tuned them out, too busy devolving into a good, old-fashioned panic attack. Noct must have noticed, because his hand had slid up from Prompto’s arm to the back of his neck, Noct looking about ten seconds from jumping into the fight even though they both knew it would only make things worse.

And then, just like that time with the doorman, Ignis was just there, behind Ravus, and for a horrible second after catching his eye, Prompto was sure he would keep walking, pretend he didn’t know any of them and leave Prompto to bear the burden of the secrets he held.

Which was a horrible thought, and Prompto felt even worse about it when Ignis’ lips twitched and he stepped up behind Ravus, who had obviously not noticed him. He adjusted his glasses, nodded to Noct who had just noticed him, and then very pointedly and very loudly cleared his throat.

If nothing else, it got Ravus to let go, as he twisted to look behind himself, expression curdling into something even more unpleasant than what he wore around Noct, which probably should have surprised Prompto more than it did. Part of Prompto knew he should take advantage of Ravus’ attention moving elsewhere to do… something other than just stand there, but stand there he did, feeling caught like that frog about to be stepped on and unable to look away. He did at least manage to find the brainpower to fix his clothing, hiding the mark away again.

By now, he recognized Ignis’ politely blank ‘I’m laughing at you on the inside’ face, and apparently Ravus did, too. “This seems rather more demonstrative than usual for you, Ravus. What seems to be the problem?”

If Ravus were a cat, Prompto was sure he’d be hissing, fur on end, by now. “The problem, Ignis,” he spat the name like it was distasteful, “is that this boy was bitten by a vampire.”

A long moment of silence passed, and again Prompto was struck by the horrible feeling that now, now Ignis would walk away. But then Ignis met his eyes with a considering noise and stepped past Ravus to settle a hand on Prompto’s shoulder, fingertips brushing conveniently just above the bite. “Hm. Yes, I’m afraid that would be my fault.”

The world around them screeched to a deafening halt. Ignis looked as serene as always, but Ravus looked to have been hit by a brick with a bad joke written on it. Noct was staring at Prompto like the little blocks in his head were starting to fall into something like a complete picture, and Luna…

Frankly, Luna didn’t look nearly surprised enough. Or at all.

Noct, for better or worse, recovered first. “Wait, he’s your vampire?”

Prompto felt Ignis’ hand tighten slightly on his shoulder, but otherwise he didn’t react. “I take it you must be the best friend?”

“Well, great! Now that we’re all introduced, um…” Prompto was pretty sure he could feel people watching them from elsewhere in the lobby. Noct hadn’t exactly been quiet about his declaration.

He jumped slightly when Ignis shifted to slide an arm around his shoulders. “Actually, I was hoping to borrow you for a bit.”

Gaping was probably not the best answer, but it was the one Prompto had. So, naturally, he looked to Luna. Ravus still hadn’t moved or said a word and Noct was just staring like two and two suddenly made four instead of five. Luna smiled at him and stepped up to taking Noct’s hand. “Go on. I’ll make sure neither of them kills the other. Have fun.”

“O-okay?” Why did it feel like he was having only half a conversation? “See ya, Noct. Luna. Uh… Ravus?” Ravus had shifted to stare at Ignis, and it was, frankly, creeping Prompto out.

Luckily, Ignis said his own goodbyes and used that arm around Prompto’s shoulder to steer them both back across the room. He didn’t say anything else until they were well out of even Noct’s hearing (and Prompto knew the exact limits of Noct’s hearing, thanks to years of careful testing for… strategic purposes) so Prompto held his tongue, too, even when he had to bite it against the thousand apologies that wanted to spill out, explanations, concerns, everything.  

They stopped in front of the elevators, Ignis taking a deep breath before he pushed the call button. Eyes followed them, not too many people in the lobby now, but Prompto knew well enough from Noct’s ranting that something like this would spread through the office like wildfire. “Well.” He didn’t sound mad, which was good. After the NDA business, Prompto definitely thought he knew all the different ways Ignis could sound mad. And disappointed. And upset. And-

...Well, he didn’t sound like any of those.

His arm definitely didn’t feel mad, either, still slung comfortably around Prompto’s shoulder as he ushered him into an elevator Prompto had never been allowed to even press the button for on any other occasion he’d been in the building. “Well.” He was repeating himself, though, and Prompto didn’t know what emotion that meant. “That certainly wasn’t how I’d ever planned on outing myself, nor is it precisely the best time, but it also could have been far worse.”

Oh. Great. It could have been worse. That made it all better.

“I do seem to recall, however,” Ignis continued, voice still mild, eyes trained on the descending numbers, “telling you to keep that covered.”

“A-about that.” The elevator ride was short, the doors opening on an underground parking structure. Ignis led him out. “I had it all bandaged up, I did! But then the bandage totally stuck out all weird and that was like super obvious, you know? So I thought… this would be better?”

Except it so obviously wasn’t better. This was ten million times worse than just letting Noct find out, and Ignis was really never going to trust him ever again after this.

He should have just stepped on the frog.

The arm around his shoulders tightened. “Breathe, Prompto.”

He hadn’t even realized he wasn’t until Ignis called him on it. He gasped in a deep breath, carefully holding it while he counted to five in his head, watching their feet as they walked. Ignis’ fancy dress shoes looked so weird next to his ratty old boots. “Sorry.”

“What’s done is done.” Ignis’ voice was mild but held a sort of finality that stopped Prompto’s automatic apology. “This time, it was my choice. Besides, I’ve had some time to think since the last scare.” Prompto winced, but Ignis either didn’t notice or at least didn’t comment. “I have a few ideas of where to go from here. Do you remember the friend I mentioned? Gladiolus? He has some experience in sticky matters such as this.”

Mostly he remembered Ignis doing his best to scare the shit out of Prompto at every opportunity that night, but he vaguely remembered the name coming up. “He a vampire, too?”

“Oh, no. Something much worse.” Ignis paused and Prompto glanced up to find Ignis watching him with the straight face that meant nothing good was about to come out of his mouth. He braced himself. “He’s a lawyer.”

Prompto gaped, panic forgotten in favor of disbelief. “That was the worst one yet.” But somehow he still found himself laughing. “I should tell him you said that!”

“Please do. I’ve informed him myself on numerous occasions.” Ignis let him go and stepped away, but this time Prompto recognized his car and moved to climb in. “His office isn’t too far from here.” He paused before pulling out his phone and sending a brief text. “There, and now I’ve even informed him we’re coming, which is more notice than he usually gives me. He should be in his office this time of day. Shall we?”

For some reason, that felt like a more important question than it probably was, but Prompto still nodded determinedly. “Off to see the wizard!”

He was rewarded when Ignis chuckled. He checked his own phone, but the lack of texts or missed calls said Luna was probably wrangling Noct well enough on her own. Or Noct and Ravus had gotten into some celebrity deathmatch thing after he left. He was gonna guess the former.

The car trip was quick, as promised, but it still gave Prompto time to think. About a lot of things, really, but most of them he set aside, trusting Ignis when he said they’d figure things out. But he kept coming back to one burning question that plagued him more the longer he thought about it.

He waited until they were in yet another elevator, a secretary having waved them through like Ignis came here a lot. Maybe he did. Prompto bugged Noct at work sometimes, and Ignis seemed to like legal things. Maybe suing people was his hobby. “Hey. Um. Question.”

Ignis’ eyes were on the slowly rising numbers, but his hand hadn’t left Prompto’s back since they got out of the car. It was surprisingly reassuring. “Yes?”

“You know when you walked in on Ravus being an asshole? That sneaking up behind people thing? You did that with the doorman at your apartment, too. Is that, like, a vampire thing or just you?” Because seriously, how did he do that?

Unfortunately, he never did get an answer. Ignis was still laughing when the elevator dinged and he tugged Prompto through the doors.


	27. Chapter 27

The top floor of Amicitia & Sons law offices was open and surprisingly spacious, a central waiting area flanked on both sides by offices for the various partners in the firm and their personal assistants. As expected, Gladio was waiting for them in one of the comfortable-looking chairs as soon as they stepped off the elevator. Unexpectedly, Iris was with him.

She bounced to her feet first once she saw them, as incongruous with her cheerful demeanor and boldly cut power suit as she ever was. “Iggy! Hey! Gladdy caught me up on your problem while we were waiting. You really should have just let us help.” She leaned to look past him, which drew Ignis’ attention to the fact that Prompto seemed to be doing a passable job of hiding behind him. “He’s cute, though. I don’t blame you.”

Typical Iris, reminding him that vampires could, in fact, blush. He ignored it, just as he had every other time. “His name is Prompto. Argentum.” He glanced at Prompto to see him waving cautiously. If only he knew these two were perhaps the biggest teddy bears he’d ever meet, appearances aside. “Prompto, this is Iris and Gladiolus Amicitia. Their father owns this firm, and Gladio takes care of most of my personal affairs. Which, by the way, I do appreciate you making time on such short notice.”

Gladio stood with somewhat less enthusiasm than Iris, although Ignis could tell from the decidedly evil gleam in his eye that he saw right through Ignis’ attempt to deflect Iris’ attention. “Yeah, well, you text me talking about pitchforks, of course I make time. Maybe lead with something a little more useful next time, though.”

“It got the point across, and I didn’t feel like telling the story twice.” And perhaps he had a tendency toward gallows humor. He made no apologies. 

“Then let’s get a move on so you can tell it once.” Gladio looked to Iris. “Kid, you mind-”

She groaned. Apparently they’d already covered this. “You owe me, Iggy. I’m covering his 2:30 so he can fix all this, and that lady has the most boring trust accounts I’ve ever seen. Ever.”

His lips twitched. “I’ll make a note of it.”

“Good.” She waited a moment before shooing them all away with her hands. “Go on! Nothing’s gonna explode because you leave me in charge. Dad even said so.”

Gladio seemed to make a point of rolling his eyes while Iris was watching before ushering Ignis and Prompto into his office. He shut the door behind them, gesturing toward a pair of comfortable chairs and going around his large, modern desk to take a seat on the other side. For a moment, he sat, looking at both of them, before turning to Ignis. “When you said I was gonna get to meet him, I didn’t figure you meant as legal counsel.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ignis watched Prompto melt into his chair, even while he covered his face with a hand. “Gladiolus.”

“I’m just saying.” The chair squeaked a quiet protest as Gladio leaned back in it. “So. Who’s gonna tell me what sort of mess you two have gotten into?”

Prompto was still looking thoroughly melted, so apparently that would fall squarely on Ignis. Just as well, really. He explained as concisely as he could, how he’d happened into reception just in time to see Ravus doing his usual routine before the word ‘vampire’ had suddenly come up and Ignis had found himself stepping into the situation, quite literally. The thought had crossed his mind to walk away, but he’d had a feeling things would end very badly for Prompto and he simply couldn’t allow that.

With much encouragement, Prompto managed to unmelt just enough to add the few details Ignis hadn’t been privy to, some of which were… more suspect than others.

“A frog.” Gladio evidently agreed.

Prompto shrugged apologetically. “I didn’t wanna step on it.”

Unbelievable. And yet, coming from Prompto, Ignis fully believed it. “That does sound like something you would do.” He reached across to lay a hand on Prompto’s knee when Prompto just slid lower in his chair in response. “Which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just made things a bit more complicated.”

“Understatement of the century, Specs. You couldn’t have picked a worse time for this.” When Prompto very nearly slunk straight out of his chair, Ignis fixed Gladio with a stern look. Gladio just spread his hands in a shrug. “Look, I don’t get paid to sugarcoat things, okay? I’m not saying it’s hopeless, I’m saying it’s gonna be tough. I know you read the news.”

He could hardly argue that. He did read it, even as certain segments grew more depressing by the day. Prompto’s clouded expression said he might not be as up-to-date. “You remember I told you about the legal ramifications if I were to be found out in the current climate.”

Prompto’s brows drew down as he thought carefully. “About quarantine or something, right?”

“Among other things.” Ignis looked to Gladio, but he seemed unwilling to provide a context lesson. As always, such things fell to Ignis. “There have been a number of laws pushed through government lately in some attempt to deal with the current situation. Weapons, as you know, are highly regulated in Insomnia, in the interest of the public health, and unfortunately, some legislators have been calling for diseased vampires to be governed just as harshly due to the potential for damage they represent. And, as the disease is currently so poorly understood, mass quarantines are being considered.”

He and Gladio exchanged a glance. Prompto had yet to look up from his hands. Gladio shook his head. “And knowing a couple of the assholes behind this whole thing, you can bet they’ll be angling for seizing of assets, too, screw the civil rights violations in the process.”

Ignis could only nod. “To say nothing of the public response. With the…” He cleared his throat. “At least two more infected vampires have been found in Insomnia, one of them, mm, already deceased.” He heard Prompto chuckle faintly and offered him a small smile. “Thanks to that and the political climate, certain… factions are taking things into their own hands. A family of dhampirs, half-vampires, had their home heavily vandalized earlier this week.”

He could all but watch the gears turning in Prompto’s head as he considered the implications of that. “You think someone might try something with me?”

“I would hope not, but it’s certainly a possibility we must prepare for.” Followed, perhaps, by the possibility of Ignis committing homicide if anyone did try anything with Prompto. 

“Which is exactly why I brought Iris in.” At Ignis curious look, Gladio shrugged. “If there’s anyone faster at sifting through records to find precedent, I haven’t met them. Guess all that time Dad had her in here doing paralegal stuff before she graduated paid off. There was that shapeshifter scare a decade or so ago, and I’m sure it’s not the only one. There’s going to be a legal background for all of this, we just have to find it.”

Well, that was somewhat heartening. Although… “Which takes time.”

Again, Gladio shrugged. “Which takes time. Knowing Ravus, he’s gonna make a stink about this before we get that time. It’s that inbetween we have to worry about.”

An uneasy silence settled over the office, broken only by the sound of Prompto shifting restlessly in his seat. By the time Prompto opened his mouth, Ignis probably could have spoken his words for him. “I’m really sorry. I shoulda just stepped on the frog.”

Ignis sighed. “Perhaps, but if you went around stepping on frogs, you wouldn’t be you, and I’d much rather you stay Prompto.”

“Even if Prompto causes lots of trouble?”

“Even if.” He reached for Prompto’s hand, giving it a brief squeeze and leaving their fingers intertwined afterward. He studiously ignored Gladio’s raised eyebrows throughout. “I’m sure the frog agrees.”

He studiously ignored Gladio’s amused snort, as well.

Prompto was watching their hands rather closely, so Ignis watched him in turn. “So what do we do? I mean, I’m pretty great at killing time, don’t get me wrong, but like, that’s usually killing time waiting for the arcade to open or something, not… whatever we’re waiting for now.”

Right, Ignis made a note to explain the concept of legal precedent sometime when Gladio wasn’t there to spectate. “A good question. Perhaps the rumor mill will be so caught up at the idea of me dating someone they’ll forget the vampire part.”

Gladio certainly seemed distracted by the thought whenever it came up. “It is pretty damn weird, but your luck’s nowhere near that good and you know it. Probably the best idea will be to just keep yourselves both out of the way for a while. Definitely no going back to work until we get this under control.” He must have sensed Ignis’ indignation because he didn’t even look up from the note he was typing on his computer. “I know you think you’re the only thing keeping that place from folding like a flan but they’re just gonna have to do without you for a couple days. Maybe longer.”

Ignis drew himself up, ready to protest that he was, in fact, not only the thing that kept the company going but also the only thing that kept Ravus from impressing his delusional ideas of efficiency upon the entire company, and what higher calling could there be? But he realized… perhaps… there was one. Or at least something on par with it. Maybe even more than on par. “It will be rather obvious, won’t it? An admission of guilt, to those who would look at it that way.”

“So we get ready to add a defamation suit on top of everything else if we need to. Or you can work from home or something. Phone it in.” Gladio ignored the look Ignis shot him as well as Ignis regularly ignored the same from Gladio. “I’m just saying there are options. Most of your funds are already diversified, so this gives us some breathing room. People forget about things they aren’t looking at every day.”

It was a point. A good point, if a somewhat unappealing one. Prompto would have to stay with him, most likely, which was certainly not a hardship for him, but what if Prompto didn’t want to be shut in an apartment all day any more than Ignis did? “I understand that, but it’s hardly any better than being quarantined. It’s just choosing house arrest instead. It won’t even necessarily…” Ignis voice trailed off as a thought came to him. He looked to Prompto speculatively, smiling a bit in response to Prompto’s confused expression. There would still be downsides, of course, and Prompto may not even agree, but perhaps it could kill two birds with one stone. “Actually, I believe I may have a better idea.”


	28. Chapter 28

Prompto texted Luna first, because she was moderately less likely to freak out.

_So! Funny story, but I’m kind of fleeing the country? Only okay not really fleeing the country, just kinda going on vacation or something, I guess, for like a really long time cause that’s what rich people do or something? I dunno, you’re rich, you tell me. Anyway it’s all cool and I think we’re going to Galdin? There’s gotta be some killer picture spots there! You and Noct’ll come visit, right? Pretty please? Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?_

A line of hearts, begging hands, and smiley faces followed.

_I’ll explain it all later, promise, just gonna wait til we get settled and I’m not on the phone in the car being all rude. You were right about like everything forever like always. Don’t let Noct freak out too much, okay? Promise? Super promise? Thanks, Luna! Hug Pryna for me!_

 

He texted Noct second, because Noct most definitely would freak out, but he couldn’t exactly not say anything _._

_Hey, buddy! Long story! Way too long. Ask Luna. Hope Ravus wasn’t too much of a dick to you guys. Come visit soon!_

A second text quickly followed _._

_P.S. This is me officially informing you I TOTALLY got laid!!!!!_

And a third _._

_Maybe don’t tell Luna that part._

 

A solid ten minutes later, Prompto’s phone received a message from Luna.

_Fleeing the country is never normal, no matter how rich you are, so I’m glad you aren’t doing it. Of course we’ll come visit. Noct keeps muttering something about a shovel talk? I’m trying not to ask. Call me the second you’ve stopped for the night. Love and kisses, Luna_

_P.S. As if I didn’t already know._


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. This is it. Thanks again to Kaz, Edrela, Besin, and of course everyone reading this fic. It's been a rollercoaster, so we both hope you like it.

Ignis glanced over as Prompto put his phone back in his pocket, face gone suspiciously pink. “Is everything quite all right?”

Prompto laughed a little. “Yeah, just Luna. You know how she is.”

And yes, he could admit he did. He could admit to a number of things which was turning out strangely freeing now that he’d gotten over the initial shock of it. “She does tend to have that effect on people.”

He imagined his own turn would come sooner or later.

When Prompto laughed again, more loudly this time, Ignis turned his full attention back to the road. They’d passed out of the city walls a few miles back, traffic thankfully still light at this time of day. After leaving Gladio’s office, they’d only stopped long enough at each of their apartments to pack the essentials before they were off.

Ignis still couldn’t quite believe Prompto had agreed to his absolutely insane idea. They’d talked it through in Gladio’s office for another hour, making sure they’d dotted every i, crossed every t, considered every contingency and loophole. Prompto’s eyes had grown wider and wider as they went, but every time Ignis had asked, Prompto had answered enthusiastically. 

And really, it wasn’t the best plan ever, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. A good number of things would need to be proven beyond doubt before most of the new laws would apply to Ignis, let alone Prompto. Technically, the government couldn’t do anything to him, but while his money could protect him even in Insomnia for quite some time, the same wouldn’t necessarily be true for Prompto. On the other hand, there were a number of self-governing territories that weren’t technically beholden to following Insomnia’s laws. Some even had vested interest in remaining as neutral as possible.

Galdin Quay, for instance. Or even farther, he’d heard Accordo had a number of things going for it and a government fond of turning a blind eye to certain aspects of its citizens’ lives. 

And somehow, even when Ignis dropped Prompto off to pack, even when he’d returned to pick him up, his own luggage in the trunk, Prompto had agreed. Prompto had wanted to come with him. When Ignis had pulled up in front of his building to find Prompto waiting with only a single suitcase and a pair of small duffels, Prompto had just grinned as he tossed his meager luggage in the back. “I’ve already got everything I need, duh.”

“You okay, Iggy?”

Prompto’s voice broke him out of his reverie. They passed a sign declaring a rest stop up ahead, complete with chocobo rentals, and Prompto gasped, making Ignis chuckle. Perhaps they rented chocobos in Galdin, as well. “Yes, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“‘Bout what?” He’d fetched his camera out of his bag at some point, Ignis noticed, now that he was paying attention. It was his first time seeing Prompto with his camera. Even as everything else had relaxed, Prompto had never brought it with him and Ignis had never asked. Watching Prompto with it now, he couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been to consistently leave it behind. He held it more like a child than an object.

“You, actually.” It slipped out without his quite meaning to, but as it was the truth, he let the statement stand. 

He was rewarded with the sort of choked squeak that invariably meant Prompto had blushed scarlet in the span of a heartbeat. Perhaps Ignis would need to consider honesty more often. “That sounds, um. Pretty boring?”

Ignis glanced at him, finding Prompto watching him carefully in return. “Not at all. One of my favorite subjects lately, I find.”

Another squeak. Yes, honesty was the best policy after all. 

It took nearly five minutes before Prompto managed to find it in himself to speak again, fiddling with the radio to cover the silence in the car. The two of them had very different ideas of what constituted good driving music (or in fact, good music at all) but Ignis let him do as he pleased. 

Eventually, he settled on a channel playing something fast but not overly loud, which Ignis supposed was his attempt at a compromise. “So. This is really happening?”

He frowned a bit at the road in front of them, wondering where Prompto meant to go with that statement. “I would have thought that was obvious some hours ago. If you’ve changed your mind-”

“No! Nope, no changing, I just… I mean, me, boring ol’ Prompto, running off to an island paradise with the hottest guy I’ve ever met. Just kinda hard to believe.”

Ignis couldn’t help himself, that was the kind of statement that needed to be laughed at, even if he was fairly sure Prompto was serious. “You are far from boring, I promise. The rest was quite flattering, though, thank you.”

Prompto opened his mouth to retort something but the music cut out on the radio, replaced by a breaking news report of another infected vampire found in Insomnia. Ignis turned it off quickly. “Perhaps that’s enough radio for now.”

“Yeah.” Prompto went quiet, but Ignis could hear him fidgeting with his camera, so he let him be. After some time, Prompto sighed. “Are we doing the right thing?”

Ignis glanced over, but Prompto was focused firmly on his camera. “I think that’s rather subjective, but for us, I hope it is. We’ll just have to figure things out as we go along. If you mean are we doing the right thing as defined by the letter of the law, no, perhaps not. I find myself not particularly inclined to care.”

A moment passed. “Sometimes I’m really glad you’re not, like, a criminal mastermind or anything, Iggy.”

“I admit I’ve considered it.”

“What?!”

He laughed. “Relax. There are far better ways to get money legally. I promise I’ll not become a supervillain. Even if you would look quite cute as my evil assistant.”

That embarrassed squeak again. Another point in favor of honesty, if perhaps a bit embellished this time.

Prompto twisted sideways in his seat and Ignis resisted the urge to tell him to sit properly and put on his seatbelt. "Okay, haha, I don’t do miniskirts. But, no, really, are you sure this is okay? What you said, about the government stuff-'

"Is all very serious and we shall take all due precautions, but don’t underestimate Gladio’s expertise. They have no legal recourse to seize my estate, Prompto, and outside Insomnia herself, no reason to harass either of us. I promise. This will inevitably blow over, as everything does, and until then, I don't remember the last time I had a proper vacation."

"So never?"

His lips twitched into something that felt remarkably like a smile. Perish the thought. "Most likely."

Prompto fell quiet, but even without taking his eyes off the road, Ignis could hear him fidgeting restlessly in the passenger seat. Some things were universal constants: the sun, the moon, Ignis’ own ability to come out above all others, and, he was finding, one Prompto Argentum’s ability to be endearing despite himself. Perhaps because of himself. Yes, Ignis would have to study that particular quandary more closely. "Besides," he said, he reaching out with one hand, not taking his eyes off the road, to comb his fingers through Prompto's hair, "I do believe I have everything I need right here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Iggy, my nose feels all funny."  
> "Well, yes, it would when you've snorted half a gallon of sea water up it."  
> "Not like I meant to."  
> "No, but perhaps the time to admit you couldn't swim was at any point before we went swimming."  
> "Sorry."  
> "It's all right. Sometimes one must hit rock bottom before asking for help."  
> "...No."  
> "Does my statement not hold water?"  
> "Iggy!"  
> "Perhaps it's too new wave?"  
> "Ugh, maybe I'll just go try to drown again."  
> "We'll call it a wash, then."  
> "Argh!"


End file.
